Distraction
by ObrienLover24
Summary: Going back to school after the holidays, Lydia Martin is ready for a new distraction. When (inexperienced) kid, Stiles Stilinski, transfers to Beacon Hills High, Lydia eyes him up straight away. Stydia AU. No supernatural. Please Review
1. Chapter 1

_Thank you for reading, I hope you like it and stick around for the parts to come x x Please review and tell me what you think! If you have any questions about any of my fanfics, a request for a new stydia fanfic or just a random question, ask me on_ _ **aks . fm**_ _(no spaces, i just cant write the full thing -_-) - my username is obrienlover24_

Lydia walks into the school building, for the first day back at school after the holidays, and immediately spots her best friend, Allison, talking to Scott. Lydia smiles to herself and shakes her head. She knows that Allison has a huge crush on Scott but the brunette refuses to admit it. Lydia has also tried multiple times to get Scott to admit his feelings for her best friend too, but all he does is blush and deny it. She waltzes over to the pair, who are stood next to her locker, and grins deviously at the other girl.

"Hey Ally," the strawberry blonde chirps in a teasing tone. "Hey Scott," she adds, stretching out the S and the boy blushes.

"Hey Lydia," Scott nervously fiddles with the hem of his shirt and then smiles at Allison. "I'll see you at lunch?"

"Of course," Allison grins sweetly and then Scott leaves. As soon as his back is turned, Allison punches Lydia in her arm with a scowl.

"Ow," she laughs and moves her hand to rub the sore spot. "I didn't do anything! I said hi," Lydia raises her spare hand in surrender.

"Yeah but it's your tone of voice," Allison hisses as she turns to open her locker. "Did you leave you maths books here?" Allison questions, trying to change the subject to anything but Scott.

"Yeah, they're in my locker," Lydia replies, twisting her number combination into the metal padlock. She is the smartest in most of her classes, especially maths, and so has never really needed to take her books home to study over the holidays.

"So how's Aiden?" Allison asks casually as she shuts her locker and leans against it.

"We're finished," Lydia shrugs as if it was nothing and to her, it is nothing. She never cared for Aiden – she's never cared for any of her boys.

"Seriously, Lydia? You were together for about two weeks! You've already dumped him?" Allison sighs in disbelief at the red-heads ways.

"We both stopped it, I'm not the one to blame this time!" Lydia folds her arms defensively, "And he wasn't by boyfriend anyway, I don't date-"

"Yeah, yeah I know. You don't date, you do _distractions,_ " Allison interrupts and Lydia grins. "But Lydia, not everyone is Jackson. Not everyone's going to hurt you so I think it's time you put yourself back out there and stopped finding boys just for sex,"

"Don't say his name," Lydia stops grinning. She stops finding the conversation a calm topic. "I don't ever want to hear about him again," she tells Allison in a serious 'don't go there' tone.

"Sorry," Allison swallows dryly. She almost forgot how much Jackson is a forbidden topic for Lydia.

The girls continue to walk down the hall in awkward silence. Neither of them knows how to break it, until Lydia sees an unfamiliar kid sitting on a chair outside the principal's office.

"Who's that?" she tilts her head slightly to the side, trying to figure out if she's ever seen him before. She doesn't think so; with a face and body like that, she would remember.

"Him?" Allison follows her eyes to the nervous looking kid staring at the floor. "Must be the new kid. Scott says he transferred here"

Lydia continues to examine the boy. She's so focused on him that she didn't even pick up on a chance to tease Allison further about Scott. "What's his name?" she asks.

"I don't know, Scott didn't say. Ask Malia, he says she's the one assigned to show him around," Allison winces at her best friends disapproving pout at the mention of Malia.

"Malia?" she squints and scoffs, "I'm not talking to her". Lydia hates Malia and Malia hates Lydia. Neither of them have a reason, they just don't get along.

"Lydia, the only reason you hate her is because you two are so similar. It's like a competitive thing," the brunette explains and Lydia scoffs louder.

"Don't compare me to _her_! We're nothing alike," she scowls and then starts walking forwards.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Allison tries and Lydia nods, "Where are you going?"

"To be nice and introduce myself," Lydia smiles and the other girl sighs loudly. Lydia has often dragged Allison to meet random people at parties and stuff. She hates it.

"I hate meeting new people like this, I'm going to go and find Kira," Allison veers off and leaves Lydia but she doesn't mind. It gives her some alone time with this kid.

"Hey there," she puts on her sweetest voice and the guy looks up at her in shock.

"…Hey" he swallows, confused as to why this girls speaking to him. She slumps down into the wooden chair next to him and crosses one leg over the other, which hitches her skirt higher up on her legs and reveals more skin. This was of course all part of her plan.

"I'm Lydia," she beams and he swallows again, this time finding it harder.

"Stiles," he replies through a sharp intake of breath. The principal exits his office and stands in front of them both.

"Lydia, why are you here?" he sighs. She has a history of being caught doing things she shouldn't be and ending up at his office.

"Just introducing myself," she stands up and smiles down at Stiles again, "See you around," she lingers her eyes on him for a few seconds, just until his cheeks turn slightly pink and then she turns and walks off.

Lydia doesn't find Allison again before the bell goes and so decides to just head to maths and meet her there. For some reason she finds herself giving her best friend details she noticed about Stiles. Things like his husky voice and caramel eyes. The way his plaid shirt fits around his muscular body perfectly and how his hair is messed up in the best way possible.

"What?" she furrows her eyebrows at the way Allison is grinning and the girl shrugs.

"Have a little crush, Lydia?" she pouts her lips and squints her eyes playfully. This time it's her getting punched in the arm by a flustered girl.

"I do _not_ have a crush on him," Lydia folds her arms again, "I was just admiring to see what he's like"

"Why?" Allison laughs. She quickly comes to the realisation that Lydia has found her new target and she lets her head fall onto the desk. She groans and Lydia laughs.

"He's hot, Ally, I'll admit that," she smirks, "And that's why I've picked him"

"No, Lydia, Scott says he's a really nice dude and that they have already exchanged numbers to hang out," Allison grabs onto her best friend's shoulders, "If you do this and hurt him, I'll lose Scott"

"Oh my god will you just admit you like him already?" Lydia mimics the girl's actions, grabbing onto her shoulders.

"Okay fine… I might _slightly_ like him"

"Slightly?" Lydia tuts and Allison rolls her eyes, releasing Lydia from her grip. Lydia does the same.

"Promise me, Lydia," she widens her eyes in a serious fashion, "Don't use Stiles"

"I don't _use_ any boys," she retorts, becoming annoyed at the choice of words. "I get what I want and they get what they want. It's mutually beneficial and then we both part ways, nobody hurt"

"Lydia…" Allison struggles to find the right words. She looks deflated.

"Alright, I won't _use_ Stiles," Lydia frowns angrily and turns to face the other way.

"Thank you," Allison places her hand on Lydia's arm, "Lyds, I don't judge you. You know that. You can do what you want, just not with Stiles. For my sake"

Lydia doesn't reply but she stops facing away. _Why does Stiles have to be friends with Scott?_ Lydia thinks to herself. She would never admit it to Allison, but she craves Stiles. She wants to know what it feels like with his body against hers. With his hands on her skin, his lips on her lips. She sighs in frustration, tapping her pen against the table. _Why does Stiles have to be friend with Scott._


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia tries to sleep but she can't. Something about the whiskey eyed boy is keeping her awake. She wants him. Badly, which scares her since she's never felt this strongly attracted towards any of the other boys and she's only met Stiles once. ' _It's just because I'm not allowed him'_ she thinks to herself as she lies on her back and stares at the ceiling. By now she'd have any other boy keeling over for her, but all she'd done the whole day at school was stare at him throughout lessons. She's desperate to talk to him but she knows that if she does, she won't be able to keep her promise to Allison.

Eventually she falls asleep thinking about Stiles. She's so tired that she doesn't even hear the alarm clock ringing right next to her. When the repetitive noise finally draws her from sleep, she notices that she's over on hour late.

Lydia springs from her bed and rushes around her room, skipping the shower for lack of time and grabbing the same outfit she wore on the weekend because she knows that it looks good. She doesn't have time to search her wardrobe for matching colours or anything like that. As soon as she's dressed, she quickly adds mascara to her lashes and paints her lips a glossy shade of pink to match her clothing.

She knows that her mom's already at the school judging by the empty home but the woman's mistakenly taken Lydia's school project due in today with her classes graded homework. This wouldn't be so bad if her mom didn't work at a different school an hour away from hers.

Lydia groans loudly as she rushes out of the door and leaps into her car. She turns the key in the ignition. And then again, and again but the car doesn't start. "You have got to be kidding me!" she yells loudly in frustration and thumps her fists on the steering wheel.

She gets out of the car and starts running, which is hard because of her heels. "Could this day get any freaking worse" she mutters to herself as she heads into the school building, sweating and out of breath. She takes a second to check herself in her locker mirror as she gathers her things and then heads through the empty hallway to her second class of the day. Or more like the last ten minutes of her second class, she completely missed the first.

"Miss Martin, you are _unbelievably_ late to the lesson," Mrs Finch, the AP Biology teacher, mutters as a flustered Lydia enters the room and takes her seat.

"I know. I'm sorry Mrs Finch. My car wouldn't start and I had to-"

"I don't want to hear it right now, some people actually want to learn today," she interrupts and gives her a cold stare. "You can tell me about it in detention tonight. And I can already see that you don't have your project with you. Make it a double detention – two hours with me after school"

Lydia feels like bursting into tears. This is the worst day ever and to top it off, she notices Malia sitting at the same desk as Stiles. They're laughing about something and she's leaning as close as she can.

Lydia plants her forehead firmly on the desk and decides to stay like that for the remainder of the lesson. There's no point in trying, she won't understand if she's already missed the whole explanation. The bell goes but Lydia makes no movement. She just wants to sit there all day and feel sorry for herself.

"You okay?" the husky voice she remembers so well sounds from above her. She rapidly raises her head off the desk to look at him. He's smiling down at her, his backpack hanging on one shoulder and his hair a delightful mess that she wants to run her fingers through.

"Just stressed," she meant to say yes. To tell him that she was fine but it just slipped out before she could stop it.

"She was kinda unfair in my opinion. She should have heard you out before giving you a detention," he shrugs and Lydia can feel her cheeks turning pink. Lydia Martin is actually blushing.

"Well what's done is done," she smiles and stands up. He walks with her as she exits the classroom and he walks with her towards the place she meets Ally at breaks. He's talking to her but she can barely hear what he's saying. She too aware of how his hand brushes against hers every so often and how he turns his whole body to face her when he talks about something he's passionate about. She tries to take in as much as she can though. She wants to learn about him.

They both stop when they get to where Allison and Scott are. Lydia watches as Stiles and Scott fist bump in greeting. How his whole arm tenses up as his hand balls tightly.

"Hey, why weren't you in first lesson?" Allison nudges her shoulder and she's forced to look away from Stiles.

"I overslept and then my car wouldn't start," Lydia rolls her eyes, "And now I have detention. Actually, a double detention"

"That sucks," Allison smiles sympathetically. She knows how much Lydia hates single detentions, let alone double.

"Yeah the Biology teacher was really unfair on her. She didn't even wait for Lyds to explain herself," Stiles jumps in. Lydia's heart jumps at the way he said her name. Everyone calls her 'Lyds' and that must be why he did, but somehow Stiles saying it makes her breath hitch in her throat.

"She probably knows my attendance history," Lydia laughs. She watches as the corners of Stiles' mouth turn up into a smile and she can't take it anymore. She needs him.

"I'm having a party this Friday," Lydia blurts out and Allison stares at her with widened eyes. She always tells Allison about her parties before she even arranges them.

"Since when?" Allison sounds a little hurt that her best friend didn't tell her.

"Since now. I've just decided I want one," Lydia explains, trying to make Ally feel less unwanted.

"I'm in," Scott grins, "Your parties are _the_ best! Ally you in? I can pick you up and we'll go together if it's easier"

"Well she is my best friend. Of course," Allison tries not to sound too excited about going to a party with Scott.

"Stiles, buddy you in?" Scott turns to the boy and Lydia waits impatiently for his answer. _Please be going. Please be going. Please be going._

"Sorry dude, I can't," he states apologetically, "I'm supposed to hang out with that Malia girl on Friday" and just like that, Lydia's day gets _even_ worse.

"Nice dude," Scott pats him on the shoulder, "Already a chick magnet and you've been here not even two days"

"That's perfect," Lydia lies, "You can bring her to the party. Give you guys something to do instead of having to think about it," she puts on her best fake smile.

Stiles thinks for a few seconds before he shrugs and nods. "Yeah I don't see why not. Sure, I'll be there"

"Great," Lydia claps her hands together and then turns to face Allison, "I'll need your help getting some stuff for the party"

"I can't today but I can tomorrow. Does that work for you?"

"Tomorrows perfect," Lydia agrees. The bell goes, signalling the end of their short fifteen minute break and the start of the third lesson. They girls say their goodbyes to the boys and then link arms and head towards their English room. _Malia's got to go._ Lydia thinks to herself.


	3. Chapter 3

When Lydia finally gets out of her two hour detention, there's nothing she wants to do more than go home. She pulls her car keys out of her bag as she walks and pushes through the main door of the school building.

All cars are gone except for the teachers and a blue Jeep that she decides must belong to another kid from detention. As she draws nearer the vehicle to get to her own, she notices a person sitting in it. A guy. They're leaning their head onto their hands on the steering wheel. Their face is hidden but there's something about the person that she recognises. And then he lifts his head up and she stops dead in her tracks.

He notices her too, smiles and gives her a small nod. Suddenly, now the thing she wants to do most is talk to him. She ambles towards his car with a grin on her face and he lowers his window for her.

"Hey Stiles," she chirps, sounding confident even though for some reason her heart is pounding. She leans her arms onto the edge of his window, "What are you still doing here?"

"Just thinking," he replies, tapping a tune onto the wheel his hands are gripping so tightly.

"What about?" Lydia frowns, noticing that he seems slightly stressed out. He sighs deeply and then turns and smiles at her again.

"Do you have an hour?" he jokes but Lydia can tell that despite his jokey behaviour, he really needs someone to talk to. So she walks around to the other side of his car and gets in. He glances at her questioningly for a few seconds and then relaxes.

"Tell me what's wrong," Lydia gets comfortable, guessing that she's going to be there for a while. Stiles smiles and starts shaking his head, trying to find words to begin.

"Well the stress is coming from a lot of stuff. Family and things like that," he begins, his grip on the wheel tightening, "But it's also going out on Friday," he swallows and looks over to Lydia. She feels bad. _Have I made him feel like he has to come? Have I stressed him out?_ She questions herself silently.

"You don't have to come to the party, Stiles. I just thought you might like it is all," she reaches over and places a hand on his arm without even realising she's doing it and both of them look startled at her sudden bold movement. She removes it again and slumps back in the seat.

"It's not coming to the party, I wanna go. It's going out with Malia," he continues once he's regained himself. Lydia's heart picks up again, this time in happiness. Completely selfish happiness but she doesn't feel bad. His gaze falls back down to his hands.

"If you don't like Malia, just tell her you can't go out and come hang with me," she shrugs. He furrows his eyebrows slightly and looks over at her again, "And Allison and Scott," she quickly adds, feeling herself start to blush. She hadn't even meant it to sound like that.

"It's not that I don't like her. I do," he wipes his face with his palm and leans back in his seat, "She's really sweet and I want to hang out with her," he bites his bottom lip in a way that would have Lydia keeling over if not for the words he's speaking. "I've just never had a girlfriend before. I've never even kissed anyone before, not properly," he admits, "I mean, I've kissed a girl before but that was when I was like, ten. And it wasn't a proper kiss, it was a dare but…"

"You've never kissed a girl?" Lydia interrupts, incredibly surprised by his confession. He winces at her reaction and runs his fingers through his hair.

"I can't believe I just told you that," he laughs but he doesn't find it funny. "I can't believe I'm telling you any of this. I met you yesterday, literally."

"Maybe you trust me," Lydia smiles and he breathes out another sigh, "And you also only met Scott yesterday. You two act like best friends already"

"Yeah but I haven't told him any of this stuff," Stiles feels embarrassed and he's blushing. He hadn't meant to tell her any of this, it just came out. It feels like he has known this girl for years and can tell her anything.

"So you really like Malia?" Lydia asks, trying to sound casual and not disappointed. She swallows hard as the corners of his mouth tilt into a smile in the same sexy way as they had earlier.

"I don't know. I only just met her and don't really know her. But judging by this," he gestures in between the two of them, "I'll probably have told her all of my darkest secrets by the end of tonight". Lydia laughs a genuine laugh. She doesn't understand why since the conversation topic is Malia and she _never_ even smiles when talking about her.

"So do you think that maybe she'll be your first kiss?" Lydia widens her eyes at the thought of Stiles kissing Malia.

"You know what, it's my turn," Stiles smirks. He shifts in his seat so that he's facing Lydia more and she squints her eyes at him, trying to work out what he's doing. "You know something about me, it's my turn to find out something about you"

"What do you want to know?" Lydia grins. She doesn't know why but she finds this sort of exciting. Like trading secrets almost.

"Something like…" he pauses, trying to think of something to ask, "How many boyfriends have you had?"

"One," Lydia replies shortly and Stiles widens his eyes in shock.

"One?" Stiles repeats and Lydia nods. She looks down at her hands in embarrassment.

"I've had many guys," she tells him, "But only one boyfriend. After him, I didn't want anymore"

"Why not?" Stiles asks carefully, not wanting her to get upset. Lydia almost pushes the question away but something about Stiles makes her want to confess everything. Like telling him would make her life seem less confusing.

"He was my first boyfriend. My first experience with love I guess and he broke my heart. Just up and left one day without even telling me he was going. I had to hear it from rumours in school," Lydia paused and took a breath to stop herself from crying. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to cry, not in front of Stiles. She just didn't want to give Jackson the satisfaction. "He wasn't a great guy anyway. He loved to drink every weekend and get himself into fights. He craved arguments _all_ the time, especially with me"

"Then why did you stay with him?" Stiles interrupts. He hates guys like that and the thought of someone hurting a girl like Lydia angers him. She deserves better.

"I loved him," she replies shortly and sadly. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Stiles speaks again.

"You get two questions for that," Stiles smiles and Lydia laughs loudly and shakes her head.

"Let's save any more deep questions for another day," she giggles and Stiles nods, "What's your favourite food?" she lays her head onto the seat behind her and listens to his answer carefully.

They spend the rest of the afternoon asking questions to get to know each other. Just simple stuff, like things they love and things they hate. What they want to do when they're older and what they were like when they were younger. If Lydia wanted him before, she was going crazy now. Every single thing he does makes her want to lunge at him and she seriously can't handle it.

The sun starts going down and she decides she should go home. They say their goodbyes and Lydia watches him drive out of the school parking lot before starting her own car. As she's driving, she finds herself asking the same question over and over. _What makes him so different from the others? Why do I feel like this?_ To help herself be able to sleep tonight, she tells herself that it's because she promised Allison she wouldn't go for him. After all, the forbidden fruit always looks the sweetest.


	4. Chapter 4

_This is definitely a filler chapter! :D Enjoy and please review x_

Lydia and Allison shop around in a big store that neither of them can remember the name of. It has a whole isle just for party supplies – things like decorations and snacks.

"So… where did this party come from?" Allison asks, trying too hard to sound casual. Lydia knows that she's digging for something.

"I felt like throwing a party," Lydia shrugs as she throws a couple of bags of 'snack sacks' onto the growing pile in the trolley.

"And it has nothing to do with Stiles?" Allison pretends to be reading a label so that she won't have to look at her friend. Despite of this, Lydia still raises her eyebrows challengingly.

"Stiles?" she acts like she hadn't once thought about him when planning this party, which is a complete lie. He's the whole reason this party is happening. "I already told you I'm not going to go for him," Lydia throws a colour changing disco light into the trolley slightly more forcefully than needed.

"Stiles told Scott that you two talked in the school parking lot for hours yesterday… I didn't want to mention it at school today because he was always there," Allison tries to hide a smile and Lydia doesn't understand why. She pretty much told her to stay away from him.

"And Scott told you that?" Lydia smirks, trying to tip the scale the other way and embarrass her friend. Allison blushes at the comment but keeps on pushing.

"I heard that _someone_ finally decided to talk about a certain ex-boyfriend she's been adamant she's not talking about. To a person she only met the other day as well," Allison speed walks to keep up with Lydia. The strawberry blonde prays that the brunette will drop it. She doesn't want to explain her feelings, she doesn't understand them herself.

Lydia suddenly comes to a halt, making the rambling girl crash into her. She takes in an irritated breath and spins around, "What do you want me to say, Ally? That I want to sleep with him? You already know that"

"Yeah I do. But do you _just_ want to sleep with him?" Allison raises one eyebrow in question.

"Yes," Lydia replies immediately. That's all she's been wanting since laying eyes on him, "But _someone_ won't let me," she adds, mocking the tone in which Allison had previously used. This earns an eye roll and a head shake.

"That's right," Ally gives her a stern stair, "And the person _someone_ asked, promised to respect that rule"

"Because that _someone_ wants to get with Stiles' best friend," Lydia grins playfully and the other girl punches her in the arm.

"Come on let's just finish this, I don't wanna be here all day" Allison takes the trolley and walks off down the aisle, throwing bits and pieces in as she passes.

Lydia heads towards the frozen foods. She wants to pick up a couple of pizzas, remembering that yesterday she learnt that pizza is Stiles' favourite food. She wants to impress him in any way she can. The thought of Malia in her house on a 'date' with Stiles makes her want to try as hard as she can to _help_ him forget about her. Which she knows is a selfish thing since she can't have him anyway but she still doesn't care.

She stands for ages, reading the label of each pizza carefully. He never told her his favourite and she doesn't want to get one he doesn't like. _Think, Lydia, think. Which one would Stiles like?_

"You're almost as engrossed in pizza as me," a voice makes Lydia jump and she stumbles backwards. A hand finds her waist to steady her – Stiles' hand – and he's now closer to her than she's comfortable with. Well, that's only partly true since she wants to be even closer to him but she's not allowed. He's teasing her without even realising it. "You okay?" he laughs.

"Yeah," Lydia squeaks, slyly stepping out of his grip to stop the burning sensation he's causing her. She immediately misses the contact though. _Why is he everywhere lately?_ She thinks to herself.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he smiles softly and she melts. The things she would happily do just to kiss those lips scares her. She brushes it off, smiling back at him but no words form. She's too concentrated on how the black top he's wearing fits and complements his muscles extremely well.

"Struggling? I can help, I'm an expert," he tells her in a playful tone. He steps away from her slightly and she practically whimpers, not feeling his body heat anymore. How can someone like him never have kissed a girl?

"I'm okay. Just party shopping," she answers, tilting her head and grinning is her usually confident way. She needs to regain her confidence; he just caught her off guard is all. His smile grows and he hums an 'oh' sound.

"Well if you're in the pizza freezer while party shopping, you can definitely count on seeing me there," he winks and Lydia loses her breath for a few seconds. She struggles to push a laugh out because of it but she manages.

"Lydia, I got all the stuff we'll probably need. You ready?" Allison calls out from the end of the aisle. She quickly grabs four different types of pizza and starts backing away from the whiskey eyed boy.

"I gotta go," she gestures to the girl stood impatiently behind her and he nods in understanding.

"Yeah," he starts backing up too, "See you tomorrow," he gives her a small wave and then turns around and starts heading in the other direction.

Lydia breathes out, realising that she's been holding her breath through most of that conversation. She quickly goes to where Allison is waiting. The girl is trying her best to hide a smile and her eyebrows are raised.

"What?" Lydia frowns as she drops the frozen pizza boxes into the trolley on top of everything else. Allison just shrugs and shakes her head. "Allison, what is it?"

"You were talking to Stiles," she smirks, "I thought you only wanted to sleep with him? You're never interested in talking to any other guys"

"God, you make me sound so bad!" Lydia scoffs, "I don't _only_ want to sleep with him. I want to be his friend too… I just want to sleep with him on top of that," she winks playfully and the brunette rolls her eyes.

"Well I'm more than okay with the being friends part. But no sleeping with him," Allison laughs as they amble towards the tills to pay.

"I'm a big girl, Ally, you don't have to remind me every five seconds," Lydia feigns annoyance and the other girl slips her arm over her shoulders.

"I know you're a big girl," Allison grins, "Which is _why_ I have to remind you every five seconds"


	5. Chapter 5

As the week goes on and the party draws nearer, Lydia starts to think maybe it was a bad idea. Not only is she taunting herself with what she can't have, he is also bringing Malia with him… as a date. Stiles gets closer and closer to the group, hanging out with them all day most days of the week. Every so often, he doesn't show up and Lydia sees him studying with Malia or eating lunch on the table with her and Kira. Lydia likes Kira and she's quite close with her but seriously has to watch her mouth to make sure she doesn't bitch about Malia when she's around; they're best friends.

It's Friday and, much to Lydia's displeasure, the party is tonight. Everyone knows to show up at about 7:30pm, that's her one rule in every single party she throws so that she has time to decorate, set up snacks and get ready of course.

Lydia heads to lunch after staying behind in lesson, for an extra five minutes, because of a stressful disagreement with her English teacher. She finds herself praying that Stiles sits at her table today – he always cheers her up after a bad lesson. It's like he can just sense that she isn't happy and so pays her extra attention.

She spots him straight away, laughing with Scott and Allison and she can just tell that he's playfully teasing them about something. She's decided the jokey, teasing Stiles is her favourite side to him and knows exactly what he's like when he's doing it. She notices that she's becoming more cheerful already and she hasn't even spoken to him yet. He spots her and grins, waving her over. She smiles back as she stalks over to the table and takes the spare seat next to him.

"Hey, you okay?" he turns to look at her and she nods through a sigh, "Allison told me about your argument with the teacher," he laughs.

"God she's such a-"

"Bitch?" Allison cuts in, "I believe that's what you called her". Stiles and Scott both laugh loudly. They both know how fiery the red head can be when provoked.

"You're lucky she only kept you back five minutes," Scott tells her through a mouth full of food.

"Yeah, she kept me in for an hour after school for doodling on a desk in her classroom," Allison rolls her eyes and Lydia hums humorously at the memory.

"Seriously though, are you okay?" Stiles asks her and she blushes a light shade of pink. Before she can answer, an agitated voice ripples through the hall.

"He'll be better than you ever could be!" Malia yells at a boy that Lydia recognises to be called Jacob Rooks. Lydia glances over at Stiles, who is eyeing up the pair warily. He clearly is just as confused by the outburst as she is. The whole room is silent. Malia continues to argue with Jacob but she is now using a hushed voice, realising that everyone is watching. Teachers make their way over to split them up before anything starts and soon the hall is back to its buzzing chatter.

"What was _that_ about?" Scott looks over at Stiles, expecting him to know since he's been hanging out with her, but he just shrugs.

"His names Jake something," Allison inputs, "He's Malia's ex, Kira told me," she explains and Lydia hopes that Malia wasn't talking to him about Stiles. She _really_ hopes that she's not planning on using him as a rebound from her ex-boyfriend.

"Great," Stiles mutters to himself under his breath. Allison and Scott are oblivious but Lydia hears it. "Hey, guys I'm gonna go and get some studying in before lunch is over," he tells everyone.

"Want some company?" Lydia quickly asks as he stands up. He thinks for a few seconds and then nods.

"Why not," he shrugs. They leave Scott and Allison alone at the table together and head over to the library in silence. Lydia watches Stiles stare at the same page in a book for about ten minutes, obviously not reading it.

"Stiles are you okay?" she finally speaks and he looks up at her and sighs.

"It's just typical that I plan to go on my first date with a girl and she turns out to be using me to get back at her ex-boyfriend," Stiles laughs humourlessly and leans back in his chair.

"You don't know that's what she's doing. I'm sure she actually does like you, how could she not?" Lydia smiles warmly at him. She's only defending Malia because she doesn't want Stiles sitting here upset, it's not for that bitch. _No way_ is it for Malia.

Lydia realises that Allison is right though, she should stick to being just friends with Stiles. It's taken her until now to realise how easy it is to hurt someone and Stiles isn't the type to just sleep around, he wants a relationship but she certainly can't do that, not yet. She's not ready. She's not even sure she likes him in that way, she's just sexually attracted to him. But she also doesn't want to be the one hurting the whiskey eyed boy that's become one of her best friends. Who knows her better than most of her closest friends do and who makes her happy when she's feeling down.

"She's obviously using me. You heard her in there, the way she was trying to make someone like _me_ seem superior to someone like him," Stiles shakes his head and sighs loudly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lydia frowns, "You are so much better than a roid-head like him"

"Thanks," he smiles weakly at her, "Not sure others agree with you there, did I ever tell you I have never kissed a girl?" he jokes but she doesn't laugh.

"I'm being serious," Lydia continues, "He may have a good body but he has literally nothing in his head. He may get chicks left and right but where's that going to get him in life?" Stiles watches her carefully as she speaks with a small, appreciative, smile ghosting his lips, "Stiles you are too smart to waste your time worrying about getting your first kiss. It'll happen one day and it will be amazing. It will be with a girl that makes you happy. A girl that you want to spend all of your time with, not some girl who you're only with because you think you should have a girlfriend. Don't make the same mistakes I make and sleep with everyone with no romantic feelings other than lust"

"Wow," Stiles blinks rapidly, taking in the words Lydia just spoke to him. Nobody has ever talked to him like that before. Nobody has ever spoken that nicely of him before. And Lydia is just as shocked; she's never _spoken_ to anyone like that before.

"I'm so sorry, that was so stupid," Lydia laughs but she's really embarrassed, "I'll just g-"

"No, it wasn't stupid," Stiles interrupts quickly before she can leave, "That was far from stupid. That's probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," he smiles nervously, "Thanks, Lydia"

"What are friends for?" she grins and he returns it, "Just have fun at the party tonight, don't worry about Malia using you. She can't do anything that you don't want her too". The bell rings, signalling the end of lunch break and the end of their conversation.

"Looking forward to it," he stands up and hooks his bag over one shoulder, "The pizza, I meant," he teases.

"Oh really?" Lydia laughs. She's amazed at how quickly and easily their conversation can turn from deep into jokey.

On the way to class, he chats to her about how Scott's planning on getting him in the lacrosse team and Lydia tells him that he should. That she would love to come and watch him play in a game some time and then they both separate and head to their next class.


	6. Chapter 6

Lydia drives home from school. The plan is for Allison to grab an outfit from her house and then meet at Lydia's, so that they can both decorate and get ready together. Lydia is determined to make sure Stiles has a good time tonight. To make sure that his first date isn't ruined; she doesn't want him to end up being like she is.

Lydia pulls the decorations out of the bag, that she left them in after paying, and starts spacing them out over the kitchen counter to get a better look at them all. When she gets to her fourth bag and has to use the floor as well, she realises that Allison got a bit carried away – the brunette loves party decorating and gets excited easily over small things. Lydia would have been there to make sure it didn't get this out of hand, but she was in the pizza aisle talking to Stiles the whole time.

Lydia hears the front door slam shut and high heeled shoes click along the wooden floorboards in the hallway. She knows it isn't her mom because she told Lydia months ago she's staying at a hotel this weekend for a trip with her school.

"Hey Ally, did you need to buy this much?" Lydia gives up and drops the half empty bag onto the floor.

"Yes," Allison flicks her shoes off and enters the kitchen with a bag of clothes in her hand, "Don't worry, we'll find somewhere for it all," she grins, noticing the red heads wide eyed stare as she examines the pile.

"Well we better hurry up then, we only have until seven," Lydia glances at the clock hanging above the fridge. It's 4:30pm.

The girls spend ages placing party lights onto shelves, a disco ball on the light frame and various other little bits and bobs that just give a party feel to the house. Lydia then digs out as many snack dishes as she can find in her kitchen cupboards and instructs Allison to fill them with goodies while she puts the pizzas in the oven.

"What time is it?" Allison breathes out. Both of them are out of breath from rushing around to get it all done in time.

"5:50," Lydia pants as she sets an alarm on the oven for fifteen minutes, as the instructions on the pizza boxes command.

"Okay good, that gives us enough time to get ready," Allison grins. She picks up her bag and skips upstairs with it. Lydia follows her. Luckily, she planned an outfit the night after buying all of the party supplies or she would definitely not have time.

They chat and giggle about things while getting dressed and doing their hair and make-up. Lydia runs downstairs halfway through straightening her hair to get the pizzas out of the oven and places them on fancy wooden chopping boards that her mom got from Canada, ready to serve. She makes sure to leave them on top of the cooker, where it's warm, to keep them hot and then jogs back upstairs to finish her hair.

"Do you think that Scott is disappointed I didn't come with him?" Allison sighs, checking her make-up in the mirror.

"No, he'll see you here. He knows you are helping set up and that you aren't avoiding him or anything so don't worry about it," Lydia tells her sympathetically and then they both head downstairs to wait for the guests to arrive. It's about 6:55, so they'll be here soon.

"Are you hoping that anyone in particular shows up?" Allison asks her innocently but Lydia can see straight through it.

"I'm not going to sleep with him Allison," she huffs, sick of hearing Allison remind her. "You were right. We've become really good friends since he moved here and I don't want to ruin that"

"I'm glad," Allison beams happily and then tip-toes over to the stereo. She flicks through the CD's, trying to find a good party mix to stick on.

"Put the 'Deorro' one in, that always gets people moving," Lydia suggests and then she heads into the kitchen to get a bunch of plastic cups out of the cupboard to place next to the alcohol. She's decided she doesn't want people searching her cupboard for cups in case they try and use the glass ones. Drunk people and glass aren't a good mix.

It doesn't take long after that for the door to start ringing. Lydia lets in group after group of people, chatting half-heartedly to them but she's really only waiting for one person. Her heartbeat lifts every time the bell goes but it's never him.

Lydia sips at a cup of vodka and eyes the door, waiting for it to ring again. The door goes a couple times more, one of them turning out to be Scott.

"Hey Lydia," he grins happily but he's looking over her shoulder for Allison.

"She's in the kitchen, re-filling the wine box," Lydia tells him and he smiles gratefully, nodding his head once in thanks and then disappearing into the other room.

Lydia gives up on answering the door. She lets the partiers do it instead, her house gets fuller and fuller but none of them are the brown haired boy with the moles cutely dotting his cheek. About two hours into the party, she's had a few drinks but only enough to get her buzzed and she's started to talk and dance with other people from her school… other boys.

She's dancing with a guy that said his name was something like Peter when she's sees him. She happens to glance at the door for a second, just as he's entering the room as if her mind knew he was there. As if she could sense him on some level.

She mumbles an excuse to Pete, who's too drunk to even realise she's going anyway, and ambles towards Stiles. He hasn't seen her yet. He's looking around the room for her though. Lydia is about to call out to him but then she suddenly stops, noticing the small hand intertwining with his. She watches as Stiles looks down to check if Malia's okay and the girl smiles sweetly up at him, stepping an inch closer.

Lydia wants to turn around and leave, but Stiles catches her eye and grins happily. Now she has nowhere to run. He walks to her, leading Malia with him and Lydia can feel her chest tightening. She really does not like him being here with her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Stiles drops Malia's hand and wraps his arms around Lydia, pulling her into a hug. She hugs him back, feeling the corners of her mouth turn up into a smirk when she notices Malia's agitated expression.

"Better late than never," Lydia winks and he laughs, "Hey Malia," Lydia fakes a smile at the frowning girl, who just frowns deeper in response.

"Stiles, let's dance," Malia tugs on his arm and he glances back at the strawberry blonde to see if she's okay with it. He actually checks to see if she's okay with him dancing with _his date_ – Lydia couldn't ask for a better party.

"Go and have fun," Lydia beams, "Just remember what I said in the library". She's referring to what she said about Malia not being able to do anything he doesn't want her too and he seems to know because he nods and slyly squeezes her hand before letting Malia whisk him off to dance.

Lydia's hand still tingles from his touch as she pours herself another drink. She watches him dancing and peels a pang of jealously that the bitch can be that close to him. That she can wrap her arms around his neck and move her hips with his to the beat. _We're just friends. Friends can't be jealous._ Lydia repeats in her head and then goes off to find Allison and Scott.


	7. Chapter 7

Lydia makes her path towards the kitchen to find Allison and Scott. For some reason she's feeling a little queasy, she guesses that it must have been the weird purple alcoholic drink that she bought, to try, finally catching up with her. She had a glass the day before the party and threw the bottle out due to the funky taste.

She stumbles over a pair of discarded shoes and almost falls over but manages to catch herself on the kitchen doorway. She breathes out in relief and stand up straight again, then she notices the making out couple in front of her.

Scott and Allison are engrossed in each other, their hands feeling every body part of the other that they can reach. They haven't even heard the red head, even after her tumble. Despite the disgust rising in Lydia at the sight, she still finds herself smiling and she quietly leaves the room so that she doesn't bother them – it's about time they finally do something about their feelings.

Lydia's head starts to pound painfully in time with the beat and she has an unbelievable wave of nausea. Her legs start to feel weak and shaky and she needs to sit down somewhere before she collapses.

Stiles catches her eye for a second, while still dancing, and smiles at her. She wants to smile back but she can tell she's about to vomit, any second, and rushes out of the room in a hurry. She barges through the back door and runs as far away from the house as she can. Then, she drops to her knees and sickness comes washing out.

Lydia throws up on the grass. A tear drips from the corner of her eye and rolls down her cheek. She starts to throw up again and suddenly feels someone holding her hair in a clump away from her face. She doesn't know who it is because she can't face them but she's guessing it's either Allison or Scott since she ran through the kitchen to get outside. They must have noticed her by now. She finishes vomiting but feels too ill to even move.

"Are you okay?" A deep, husky voice asks in a soothing voice. She knows the voice but it's not Scott's. Lydia jumps, spinning to face Stiles and he smiles down sympathetically at her. All she can manage to do it nod. Embarrassment floods her; he just saw her unleashing her stomach content onto the grass.

"Where's Malia?" Lydia squeaks. For some reason that's the first question that enters her head.

"Inside," he looks back at the house, "I noticed you didn't look right and just told her that I would be back in minute. Scott and Ally are in the kitchen, they saw you run out and were about to come after you but I said that I would go," he tells her. She also looks back at the house and notices the other pair looking through the slats in the kitchen window blinds.

Lydia's head is still throbbing and her stomach hurts. She wants everyone inside to leave so that she can just go to sleep and hope that it's gone in the morning.

"Want me to go and tell people the party is over?" Stiles questions as if he can read her mind. She nods and smiles weakly at him.

Stiles disappears into the house again and Lydia leans against a tree while she waits. She can kind of see Scott and Allison both helping to round up people and guide them towards the door and then Ally comes outside to see her.

"Hey Lyd, you okay?" she crouches in front of the strawberry blonde and caresses her cheek soothingly.

"I feel like I'm dying," the girl grins in response and the brunette laughs.

"How much did you have to drink?" Allison asks, turning serious as she feels Lydia's forehead with the back of her hand.

"I had three drinks, literally," Lydia groans and pushes herself to her feet, "I just need to sleep, I'll be fine"

They go inside the house and Lydia feels like screaming at the mess lining the floor and counters. She _really_ doesn't even feel like moving anymore, let alone cleaning up. Malia is still inside, waiting for Stiles to take her home.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving Lyds with a mess like this to wake up to," Stiles admits and Malia frowns at him.

"So what're you gonna do, clean it up?" Scott asks, raising his eyebrow. It doesn't go unnoticed by anyone that his arm is around Allison's waist.

"Yeah, I am," he nods and then whispers something to Malia. She puts up a quiet argument, which he argues back to, and then she growls in frustration and nods, "Scott I need you to take Malia home for me, please"

"Uh…" Scott looks at Allison for help but she just shrugs. "Yeah, sure," he sighs and then pulls his car keys out of his pocket, "Feel better Lydia, bye" he smiles.

"Thanks Scott," Lydia replies but all she's really focused on is the fact that her and Stiles are going to be alone together in her house. _Why when I finally make the right decision to be friends, things like this happen to make it harder?_ She silently asks herself.

The other three leave and Stiles immediately starts cleaning up. He grabs the brush leaning against one of the counters and sweeps things on the floor into a pile of trash.

"Stiles, you don't have to do this," Lydia insists but he doesn't stop. He doesn't even reply.

Another wash of weakness comes over Lydia and she drops down onto the sofa for comfort, cold and shivering. Stiles stops sweeping and stalks over to her. He reaches out his hand, like Allison had done, and places it on her forehead. She shivers harder under his touch and concern fills his expression.

"This isn't from too much alcohol," he states and she shakes her head, agreeing with him.

"I barely drank anything," she says in a hoarse voice. She feels absolutely awful.

"I'm not leaving you alone like this, is your mom coming home tonight?" he sits down next to her. She feels her heart beat pick up, which doesn't help her feel any better, and she feels the urge to kiss him. To just get it over with so that the feeling goes away but she can't, she knows that.

"She's away all weekend," Lydia tells him. The pain in her head makes her want to cry, and she involuntarily starts to.

"Hey, it's okay," Stiles wraps his arms around her and pulls her into a hug. The comfort only makes her cry harder and he whispers soothing words to her, trying to make her feel better. "I'll stay with you," he murmurs and she looks up at him with glassy eyes.

"Really?" she is genuinely surprised. Nobody has ever done anything like that for her before. He smiles down at her and nods.

"I think I know what this might be, so if you aren't better In the morning I'll take you to the doctors," he tells her and then stands up to help her get to bed. She could have gone herself, she could have managed. But she allows him to help anyway. She wants him to help.


	8. Chapter 8

Stiles is about to get up and continue sweeping Lydia's floor for her but she speaks before he could move.

"Do you want to continue our chat from in the Jeep?" Lydia grins weakly at Stiles from the sofa. He leans back against the leather chair and smiles back at her, deciding that the mess can wait until tomorrow.

"The questions?" he asks and she nods, "Don't you want to sleep?"

"No, I'll be okay for a while," she tells him but truthfully, with how achy and ill she's feeling, she could really use the sleep. She just doesn't want to miss out on an opportunity to talk alone to Stiles – she loves talking to him, so much.

"I'm not going to start with the deep question, but we get to ask at least one each time we do this, agreed?" he says. She laughs and rolls her eyes dramatically but nods anyway. "How long have you known Allison and Scott?"

"Since the second half of sophomore year," Lydia can't believe that they've been friends for that long – they're all seniors now. "Allison was a new girl and I noticed her because of the rare jacket she was wearing. We became friends first and then she got to know Scott and introduced him to me. We started to hang out a little, became super close and that's what started our little trio"

"They've been friends that long and they aren't together?" Stiles shakes his head in disbelief and then Lydia remembers what she saw when she was looking for them in the kitchen.

"They kissed tonight," she beams and Stiles looks up at her in shock. Although he has only been hanging out with them for a week, he can tell how they feel about each other and is definitely rooting for them.

"No way!" he claps his hands together in excitement, "Kissing how? Like a peck or full on? I can't believe you're only just telling me this"

"I completely forgot about it! And a full on make-out. It was actually kind of gross," Lydia laughs, ignoring the thumping headache that she still has.

"You wait till I see Scott," Stiles grins. They stay quiet for a few moments, just smiling and then Stiles speaks again, "It's your turn to ask a question"

"Hmmm," Lydia thinks of something to ask, "How was the date with Malia tonight?"

"It was okay I think, I don't know. I'm not sure how dates are supposed to feel, I've never been on one before," he shrugs.

"Then she's not right for you," Lydia yawns, "You know when you're on a good date, even if you have never been on one before. Trust me"

"What's wrong between you two? I kept getting a vibe whenever you were near each other," Stiles positions a cushion behind his head and leans into it, purposely leaving half of it empty so that the red head can share.

"I don't know. We just don't get along, we never have," she sighs. There's an awkward silence for a couple of seconds. "There is no reason particularly, sorry to disappoint you with my uneventful story," she grins even though he isn't looking at her. Their heads are now leaning on the same cushion, facing opposite directions.

"That didn't count as my question by the way," he sounds sleepy and Lydia can tell that his eyes are shut, just like hers are.

"What's your question?" she fights to keep herself awake. It has to be about three in the morning by now.

"Why don't you want another boyfriend?" he questions and her eyes open again. "I get that it's because of Jackson, but why?"

"Because he left me and hurt me. Because for five months I sat by the phone every second I could, waiting for him to call me and tell me where he was. To apologise and tell me that he loved me. To say that he was coming back to me. And because when he finally did call me and I asked him why he left, he told me that I meant nothing to him and that I wouldn't mean anything to anyone… ever," Lydia swallows dryly when she's done talking. She's so thankful that Stiles is facing the other way so that he can't see the quiver in her lip.

"Lydia not everyone is a tool like Jackson. There are guys out there that would think themselves so unbelievably lucky to have you. Guys that want to talk to you as much as Jackson wanted to fight with you. Guys that want to stay with you as much as Jackson wanted to leave you behind," Stiles really wants to look Lydia in the eyes but he has a feeling that she would feel better like this.

"That sounds amazing, it really does," Lydia whispers in a tired tone, "But no guy is like that. Not outside movies anyway. Even Allison says that Scott zones out while she's talking to him or that he would rather be out with some guys instead of her sometimes, and he's one of the sweetest guys I know. I'm not saying he would leave Ally, but most other guys aren't as pleasant as him and would get bored with me. They would drop me for the next pretty thing that walks in the room"

"Yeah, I know that some of them are like that but not all of them are. Good people do exist out of TV too, even in as screwed up a world as this, Lydia," Stiles sighs sadly. He never thought of someone as confident as Lydia being so wary about having a relationship. He never thought girls like her cared about break-ups that much because they can always easily find someone else – now he understands that they don't just want a boyfriend. They want to fall in love and be happy with them.

"Well if people like that really do exist, please feel free to tell me where I can find one," Lydia murmurs, sleep overcoming her. Stiles doesn't say anything until he can hear even breathing next to him and, almost silent, cute little snores start to come out of the girl.

"Right here," he whispers out into the darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

Lydia wakes up due to a howling stomach ache that's impossible to sleep with. The type to turn your dreams into nightmares about getting sliced across the middle with a blade because of the pain. Reaching towards her bedside counter for her ibuprofen, her fingers dip into something cold and wet. She sits up rapidly, praying that it's nothing gross and notices a glass of water with a note next to it. She's not in her bedroom, she's in the living room. She remembers the night before – Stiles staying with her after the party and them having another one of their deep conversations before she fell asleep. She leans forward and picks up the note to read it.

 _Lydia,_

 _Scott text me saying he needed me for 'urgent matters' and so I had to rush out – sorry!_

 _Drink the water (you'll thank me for it) and go down to the doctors. I think you may have food poisoning_

 _Text you later_

 _Stiles x_

Lydia's tummy hurts more just thinking about the fact she may have food poisoning. It makes sense considering the strange drink she made herself try. Normally she would have just gone to the doctors but for some reason she feels the need to follow Stiles' instructions and so she drinks the entire glass of water. The red head quickly comes to the realisation that it's not just water. There's some kind of medication in there – something that's helping settle her painful stomach already.

Lydia then shoves her black pumps on and grabs her car keys. She's still in her party outfit from last night but she really can't bring herself to change. That would mean going upstairs, finding something, undressing, putting the new clothing on, going back downstairs and then leaving. So she just avoids the mirror.

She eyes up her phone as she drives even though she knows that he isn't going to text her yet. It can't have been long since he even wrote the note and left, it's only 9:00am. She does it nonetheless all the way to the doctors and she turns the sound up before she sticks the mobile in her bag so that she can hear it.

The entire room is spinning as she waits in line to ask to see a doctor and the receptionist looks tired and stressed, jugging speaking through a phone and talking to rowdy people waiting for a doctor too. Eventually the line starts to shrink and the seats get fuller.

"Hi, can I help?" the receptionist smiles at her. She's obviously happy to see a face that doesn't belong to an over protective mother, desperate to get their child in to see someone, or an impatient old pensioner.

"I'd like to see a doctor please," Lydia tells her and she's handed a form and a pen.

"Can you fill this in for me please? It's just some details for the doctor," she asks sweetly and then moves aside to talk to the father stood behind Lydia. The girl steps out of the way to make room for the man and starts answering the questions. It asks about her allergies and things like that.

Lydia then sits in an uncomfortable chair listening to squealing children, coughing and 'quiet' whispering while she has a headache until a doctor finally calls her into their room. For once, she is glad to be seeing the doctor. Normally she would rather stay in the waiting room and hope that they have to cancel – she is terrified of anything to do with hospitals.

"Hello, I'm doctor Shafton," the doctor, a foreign fit guy says. He checks the information provided on the sheet she filled out. "Okay, Lydia, I'm just going to ask you some questions. Is that okay?" he shifts his chair towards hers.

"Yeah," she replies nervously.

Like he said he would, Dr fitty asks a whole range of questions about how she's feeling, what health issues she has, what she's eaten recently and things of that nature. She answers each one as truthfully as she can and he jots it down on a piece of paper with words on it clipped onto a board.

"Okay, it could be a couple of things. Is it okay if I run a few tests on you?" he asks her even though he's already getting the test equipment out and ready. She nods anyway and he proceeds with the tests.

She's there way longer than she hoped she would be and she really wants to go home. Finally, the tests end and he sits there 'calculating her results' for a short while.

"I believe you may have food poisoning," he concludes. _Stiles was right_ is Lydia's first thought. "What you need to do is get plenty of rest. I can write you a doctor's note for your school if need be," he instructs, "Try sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water rather than snacks and avoid huge meals if possible. The most important thing is rest though"

"Thank you," Lydia tells Dr Shafton honestly as she exits the room. She heads down the hall and out of the building towards her car.

The strawberry blonde doesn't even wait until she's inside the vehicle to get her phone out and start to compose a text to Stiles.

 _'Went to the doctors. Guess you should get a job there! ;D'_ She sends, trying to sound light hearted and jokey.

She then sends a quick group text to Ally and Scott, telling them that she won't be at school because of her food poisoning. None of the trio makes a big deal out of being ill – just a simple text will do. But with Stiles, Lydia feels different. It's almost as if he cares more about her, and to be honest he probably does. She loves Ally and Scott but they aren't the most caring of people.

Lydia doesn't start her car, waiting for Stiles to text her back. When the phone starts to make a noise, she opens the text before it even has a chance to finish buzzing.

Are _you at home? Stay there. I'm bringing my doctoring skills over to you ;)By the way, I have news_

Lydia quickly pulls out of the parking lot and heads back home, wondering what his news could be.


	10. Chapter 10

_Thanks for all of the amazing and sweet reviews. I love you all, keep them coming I really enjoy reading them. They always make my day. That's all, i hope you enjoy this chapter ;D_

Stiles' Jeep is already outside Lydia's house by the time she gets out of the traffic and back home. He's leaning backwards on the hood of the car. His head turns as he watches her pull into the drive and kill the engine. She all of a sudden doesn't even really feel ill. Not much.

"Hey, sorry I didn't realise you weren't already home," he rubs the back of his neck, "You didn't have to come back if you were busy"

"No I wasn't busy. I was just on my way back from the doctors," Lydia smiles as she unlocks her front door and stands aside to let him in first. He nods at her in thanks.

"So you really have food poisoning, huh?" he pouts awkwardly, trying to make conversation.

Lydia drops down onto her sofa and pats the seat next to her, beckoning him to sit. "I thought you had news," she raises her eyebrows and he grins, plopping himself down next to her and leaning back into the chair.

"I do have news. Two pieces of news actually – one far more exciting than the other," he states and she shifts herself closer to him without even meaning to, but she doesn't move back again. She likes the warmth of his body heat. She finds a sort of comfort in it. As friends of course, she tells herself.

"Tell me the exciting one first," she beams and claps her hands together childishly. He laughs and shakes his head.

"No way. If I tell you that first, the second one will seem even worse," he argues and she pouts but doesn't say anything else. She, instead, gestures with her hands for him to continue.

"Give me the news boy, quit stalling!" she playfully digs him in the arm and he chuckles again.

"So, I heard back from coach Finstock about my place in the lacrosse team. He told me to show up for try-outs on Monday after school," Stiles speaks, twiddling his thumbs almost in an embarrassed way, "I mean it's not a place on the team but it could lead to one… if I can play"

"Are you kidding me? No freaking way Stiles, congratulations!" Lydia squeals in excitement, "I so wish I wasn't sick! I wanna come and see," she groans, cursing herself for getting food poisoning.

"Seriously?" he gazes at her with a shocked expression and she smiles warmly, their eyes meeting and he can see the sparkle in hers, "You really think it's cool?"

"Of course I do!" she frowns at him like it's obvious and then returns to her position leaning back into the seat. "Just promise me that you make it into the team so that I can come and watch you play," she winks.

"I can't promise I'll make it in but I can promise that I'll try," he laughs and she hums at him, tilting her head in a daring way.

"You better make it Stilinski. I believe in you," they both laugh and she flicks her shoes off and curls her legs underneath her. "Now what's the exciting news? I better not be disappointed now," she jokes.

"You won't be I promise," he beams mischievously and she gently thumps his arm with her fist.

"Don't leave me hanging, just tell me," she sticks out her bottom lip in a begging way and he pulls his phone out. "Stiles!" she growls in frustration.

"Just wait," he tells her and she scoffs.

"You told me you have exciting news – more exciting than the lacrosse thing- so you can't keep me hanging like-" he holds up his hands to shush her and turns his phone so that she can see what's on the screen.

 _Allison Argent updated her relationship status to 'in a relationship with Scott McCall'_

Lydia's whole heart lifts as she reads the status and she screams in delight, jumping up and down and taking her own phone out to double check he's not just messing with her. She finds it on hers too and she squeals again.

"That's what Scott wanted to talk to be about when he _urgently_ needed me," Stiles grins and Lydia immediately starts texting Allison with hundreds of 'You didn't tell me's and 'Oh my god about time's.

"I can't believe this, it's so great. I was really hoping that they wouldn't just forget about the whole make-out in my kitchen thing," Lydia breathes out, exhausted from her display of excitement.

"Oh and there's something else too," Stiles chews on his bottom lip, "Something that I want to get your opinion on," he swallows and rubs the back of his neck again – something Lydia has realised he does when he's nervous or anxious.

"What is it?" she asks softly, hoping to help him become less nervous to tell her.

"There's this other girl at school that I've been kind of speaking to a little. Her names Sophia and she wanted to know if I'll take her out to dinner next week," he states and Lydia can already feel her heart dropping and her excitement fading fast.

"And? If you like her go, why do you need my advice?" she looks over at the wall, not wanting him to see how disappointed she is. If he gets a girlfriend, his attention is on her. This means that Lydia loses him and she _really_ doesn't want that. She doesn't know what she wants and she honestly wants to tell him not to go out with Sophia, but she also knows it's selfish and unfair on him.

"I want your advice on whether I should go out with her," he sighs, "I just don't know. I'm still nervous about all that because I'm a little inexperienced if I didn't mention," he rolls his eyes sarcastically. "I just wish my first kiss would be over and done with so that I could actually go on a date without it being all that I think about"

"I know how you feel, kind've. I wish I could just re-do my first kiss and have it with someone _other_ than Jackson," Lydia smiles and he furrows his eyebrows.

"What if we just get it over with," he turns to face her and she looks back at him, completely confused. "I could just have my first kiss done with and you could have yours again"

"I don't think it works like that," Lydia shakes her head, hiding how her heart is fluctuating with a smile.

"Who says?" Stiles inches himself closer to her, "You can forget about Jackson being your first kiss. Erase it from your mind and pretend that you're starting again"

"But I haven't just kissed Jackson… I've kissed a lot of people," Lydia pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth, ashamed of that fact.

"Forget about all of those, they obviously didn't mean anything to you," he shrugs and she purses her lips.

"And this kiss would?" she states honestly. He's asking her to kiss him so that he can feel comfortable on a date with another girl and kissing her. Not exactly a meaningful kiss.

"It's different, we're…friends," he takes her hand in his and she looks up into his eyes. He looks like he really means it.

Lydia considers it for a few seconds. If she kisses him then maybe the sexual feeling she has towards him will go and she can keep being his friend. Maybe she will stop being so confused about how she feels and what she wants from him.

"Okay," she decides and the corners of his mouth immediately turn upwards into a smile.

They both turn their bodies awkwardly to face each other on the seat. Strangely, Lydia feels as if it really is her first kiss all over again. She's nervous and her palms are sweating. More than that, she's scared. She's scared that she'll mess up and ruin his first kiss. She's scared that the kiss will make him more confident around Sophia, have a perfect date with the girl and he'll leave Lydia forever. Most of all, she's scared that the kiss will just confuse her more because no matter how much she likes him, she can't bring herself to date him. No matter how much she internally battles with herself, repeating that he isn't like Jackson and that he won't hurt her, she can't be sure it won't work out as a relationship and she _really_ doesn't want to lose him. She would rather keep the friendship that will last forever than start a relationship that could crash and burn.

"I've never done this before so please feel free to give me some pointers. How do I start this?" Stiles laughs nervously, wiping his hands on his jeans, telling Lydia that he's obviously sweating too. This, for some bazaar reason, fills her with a little bit of confidence.

"Like this," she takes his face softly in her hands and pulls his face towards hers. Their lips hover apart for a second while she thinks one final time, trying to make sure it's a good idea but then he decides for her and fills the gap, pushing their lips together and Lydia gasps into his mouth. Her stomach fills with butterflies and her head is spinning. Her eyes draw closed and she sinks into the kiss, allowing him to take control. She couldn't even take control if she wanted to, she's paralysed.

He pulls away and it takes a while for her to open her eyes. When she finally manages to, she notices that his are still closed. Both of them have deep breathing. Her lips tingle from where his were. He eventually opens his eyes too, looking directly into hers.

"You've never done that before?" she raises her eyebrows, trying to ease the tension and he lets out a breathy laugh.

"Now I have," he swallows and now she's the one laughing.


	11. Chapter 11

Stiles and Lydia are just looking at each other, not saying a word and she doesn't know what to do now. Suddenly her mom, with the 'best' timing ever, comes through the front door. She stumbles into the living room, muttering curse words to her broken wheeled suitcase until she notices the pair sitting next to each other on her sofa.

Stiles isn't fazed; he knows that her mom didn't see them kissing. Lydia on the other hand, can feel her cheeks glowing bright red. Her mom has walked in _plenty_ of times and caught her with a boy. Too many times.

"Lydia, sweetheart, come and help me with my case please," Natalie speaks casually and evenly, not even paying Stiles any attention. Lydia glances over at the boy, whom she can see has started to become slightly nervous, and then pushes herself off of the sofa.

They're silent as Lydia carries her mother's case up-stairs and into her bedroom for her and they're still silent as she helps her unpack. Eventually, Lydia decides to break the silence.

"I have food poisoning. The doctor gave me a note to say I can't go to school and everything," she tells her mom and the woman turns to face her.

"Lydia, I don't appreciate you bringing _yet another_ boy into my house. I thought I made myself clear that I don't like what you get up to and I want you to stop it," Natalie mutters sternly, throwing the last of her tops into the wardrobe and slamming the door shut.

"Of course that's all you care about," Lydia laughs humourlessly, "I tell you I have food poisoning and you ramble on about boys," she purses her lips to try and stop herself from crying. More and more lately she's been having fights with her mother. Each time, both the argument and the silent treatment lasts longer and longer. The last one lasted a week.

"Yes, because I come home from a stressful school trip to see you and a boy sat on my sofa!" Natalie drags her suitcase onto the floor and kicks it underneath her bed.

"We're just friends!" Lydia growls defensively and her mother scoffs. "What? is that so hard to believe?"

"Actually it is," The older woman folds her arms and Lydia spins on her heels, heading back towards the stairs. "Don't you dare walk away from me while I'm talking to you, Lydia Martin!" Natalie screeches.

Lydia turns back around. "Stiles is my _friend_ mom!" she yells towards her mother, "He came over because of my food poisoning. He came over because, unlike you, he actually cares about me!"

Natalie's palm slams against Lydia's face, hard enough to knock her off her feet and land against the wall. Lydia brings her thumb up to her lip and looks at the blood it leaves on her skin. She then looks up at her mother, who is staring down at her with an angry look across her features. Lydia feels hurt – she and her mom have arguments all the time but she never expected her to _ever_ hit her.

She scrambles to her feet and races down the stairs into the lounge. Stiles looks up at her, immediately noticing the blood on her lip, and stands up. He's about to ask what happened but Lydia grabs his hand and pulls him out of the front door.

"Lydia stop!" Natalie calls from the front door as she watches the teens get into the blue 1976 CJ5 Jeep but she doesn't go outside.

Stiles takes one look at the tear stains on Lydia's cheeks and pulls the vehicle out of the drive way, away from the Martin residence. He drives silently until the house is out of view.

"Lyds, what happened?" he asks softly and cautiously, not wanting her to feel as if she has to talk about it if she doesn't want to.

"I was arguing with my mom, we've been doing it all the freaking time lately," Lydia answers in a shaky tone. She still feels shocked that her mother would do that to her, that her mother _could_ do that to her after what had happened to her. "She hit me," Lydia concludes and then leans her head onto the cool glass of the window.

Stiles is speechless. He wants to do or say something to make her feel better but he can't think of anything. Instead, he drives her to his house without saying anything. When they get there, he notices how drained Lydia looks. Her face is pale apart from the crimson tickle along her bottom lip, running an inch onto the skin underneath. They exit the Jeep and walk to his front door.

Lydia can hear someone in the kitchen, clattering around with pots and pans and she looks over to Stiles.

"Don't worry. It'll just be my dad," he smiles softly at her and she nods. He leads her into his living room and she perches on the edge of the leather seats, looking around the room curiously. "I'll be back in a sec, I'm just gonna grab some water," he tells her and she whispers a quiet 'okay'.

"Oh, hey Stiles. I didn't hear you come in," Stiles' dad chirps happily when he notices his son entering the kitchen.

"Hey dad," Stiles replies as he grabs two glasses out of the cupboard and starts filling them with water.

"You got company?" Sheriff asks with a raised eyebrows directed at the extra glass.

"Yeah. It's Lydia. You remember, I told you about her," Stiles explains and his father nods, craning his neck and stealing a peek through the doorway.

"Is she okay?" the man frowns, noticing the deflated looks she's wearing.

"She kind of had an argument with her mom… a bad one," Stiles pulls a face, telling his dad just how bad it was. His dad gestures to his bottom lip, silently asking if Mrs Martin was responsible for the injury on Lydia's mouth and Stiles nods. Mr Stilinski shakes his head and sighs. "She's pretty shaken up about it so I thought I would bring her here for a while. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not. Tell her she can stay as long as she likes," the sheriff smiles sadly, "Do I need to do anything about this?"

"I don't think so," Stiles shakes his head and picks up the glasses of water, "Thanks dad," he smiles and then turns and re-enters the living room.

"Thanks," Lydia smiles weakly as she takes the cup from his hands and sips along the rim, "Sorry about this"

"No it's okay. Honestly," he reassures her, "You're just ruining what could have been the night I text Sophia and went out with her," Stiles jokes, playfully nudging her arm and she laughs slightly.

She places the glass onto the coffee table in front of her. "Sorry," she whispers as she leans her head onto his shoulder. He moves his arm around her and he forgets all about Sophia.


	12. Chapter 12

Lydia wakes up feeling the worst she's ever felt. Her head hurts, her stomach hurts… her entire body hurts. She goes to stretch out her limbs but finds herself encased in a pair of warm, comforting arms. The arms belong to Stiles. She remembers falling asleep next to him on the sofa whilst waiting for his dad to finish up cooking tea… _Holy crap, his dad!_ Lydia internally panics and tries to carefully detangle herself from the sleeping boy without waking him.

She manages to get to her feet, wobbling slightly from the dizziness caused by her terrible migraine and she stumbles towards the front door.

"Lydia?" Stiles calls out to her. She turns around without even thinking and almost faints at the sight – his eyelids are heavy, his hair is mussed up in a good way and his lips are doing a sleepy pout that does things to Lydia she would never admit out loud. "Where are you going?"

The memories of her mother hitting her come flooding back and she tenderly touches her bottom lip, she actually almost forgot for a second. She doesn't want to go home anymore.

"Hey, come here," he beckons her over, reading her expression and figuring out her thoughts from it. She complies and flops back down next to him, feeling exhausted. Stiles budges over to make more room for her.

"How long was I asleep? Is your dad still making dinner or did I miss it?" Lydia yawns. Even though they kissed and she just woke up in his arms, she doesn't feel awkward around him.

"You definitely missed it. My Dads at the station for work" he laughs, gesturing to the window and the pitch black sky. Lydia gasps and pulls out her phone to check the time, noticing the writing half way down her screen.

 _11 missed calls from_ _ **Mom**_

She reads the screen, hastily locks her phone and drops it onto the wooden table. Stiles doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he leans back into the chair and closes his eyes. Lydia watches him for a while as he drift off to sleep again. When she's finally satisfied with the amount of staring, she allows herself to fall back asleep.

"Yeah I'll tell her where you went when she's up," Lydia hears a female voice whisper. She can tell that it's Allison. Just as she flicks her eyes open, the front door closes and a few moments later a car starts up.

"Allison?" Lydia murmurs, her voice hoarse with sleep. The brunette spins to face her with a huge grin.

"Did Stiles tell you?" she squeaked with a sparkle in her eyes, "What am I saying? Of course he did!"

"About you and Scott?" Lydia beams back and the other girl nods vigorously, practically jumping up and down. "So? How is it?" Lydia laughs.

"Oh my god, he's so great Lyds and so sweet," she gushes, "Last night he took me to see a horror movie and held my hand the whole time because I was scared"

"You actually watched the movie while Scott was sitting next to you? Wow, Ally, I'm impressed," Lydia teases and Allison rolls her eyes with a huge smile spread over her cheeks.

"Ha-ha," she states sarcastically, "Yes, we watched it. And if you must know: we saved all of the making-out until after the movie, where it was more private!" Ally winks and Lydia laughs.

"Well congratulations Allison," Lydia giggles as she stands up from the leather seat and heads into the kitchen. "Where's Stiles?" she briefly looks around for him but figures that he must have been the one Allison was talking to.

"He went with Scott to buy us all some coffee," she replies, following Lydia into the other room and leaning against the counter with a small smirk playing on her mouth.

"What is it Ally?" Lydia sighs and the brunette shrugs her shoulder innocently. "Allison Argent, don't make me come over there and tickle it out of you!" Lydia threatens, outstretching her fingers into claw shapes and stepping towards the other girl.

"Okay, okay," Allison begs before Lydia even touches her, "Please, just don't tickle me!"

"Spill," Lydia insists, jumping up to sit on the granite counter next to her best friend.

"It's just that you've been spending a lot of time with Stiles recently," Allison tries to play it off as if she's not really thinking anything of it but Lydia can see the glow in her eyes.

"We kissed," Lydia spits out, not able to hold it in any longer. Allison sucks a deep breath into her lungs, preparing herself for the squeal and so Lydia quickly cuts in again. "It didn't mean anything"

"What the _HELL_ do you mean 'it didn't mean anything'?" Allison bursts. Her cheeks turn pink with how hard she's trying to keep herself under control.

"I _mean_ it didn't mean anything," Lydia replies, "He wanted to get his first kiss over with and I wanted to re-do mine, for obvious reasons… so…"

"So you shared an amazing, beautiful kiss together," Allison grins and the strawberry blonde regrets telling her already.

"It didn't mean anything Allison," she insists, "And anyway, I thought you were the one that told me not to go for him?"

"No, I said don't _use_ him. I didn't say don't _date_ him," Allison corrects her friends with a huge smirk.

"Well I'm not going to do either," Lydia tells her as she hops down from the side and heads back into the living room. Allison is right behind her, right on her heels.

"Lydia, you are such a hypocrite you know," Ally grumbles in annoyance.

"And how is that?" the red head asks in a bored tone. She falls back into the chair and raises her eyebrows expectantly.

"Because you spent ages teasing, scolding and trying to get me to admit my feelings to Scott, yet now it's your turn, you refuse too," she mocks the pout Lydia always does when she makes a good point.

"Ally can we just drop it for now? Please, my head hurts and I feel like utter crap," Lydia places her hands over her face and groans.

"It's not hard to admit. Just say you like him and I'll let it go. I'll even wait until you're better to tease you about it," Allison winks and Lydia laughs.

"Promise you won't beg me to ask him out? Cause I can't," Lydia pleads and Allison's grin widens.

"You just practically admitted it!" she screams in excitement, "Ohh my godddd this is GREAT!"

"Ally, shut up! You said you would wait until I was better to tease me," Lydia frowns and places a cushion over her own face.

"Lydia I wasn't teasing you, I was excited for the many double dates that are to come," Allison yanks the pillow out of her friend's arms and looks into her eyes. "What is it?" she notices the lack of happiness that Lydia is expressing.

"I'm not asking him out"

"I know and you don't have too, not yet anyway. I know you're not ready for a boyfriend and to be totally honest, I agree. I think you need to regain some confidence in yourself before accepting another guy to fill the hole Jackson left but I do honestly think Stiles is a perfect hole filler, don't you?," Allison tilts her head and raises one eyebrow, daring Lydia to disagree.

"The _perfect_ hole filler?" Lydia mocks and both girls giggle.

"Yeah that sounded way better in my head," Allison shakes her head and Lydia laughs again.

"Thanks Ally"

"For what?" the brunette frowns in confusion.

"For understanding," Lydia smiles and Allison nods "I don't even know if he'll like me anyway"

"He does," Allison rolls her eyes dramatically and before Lydia can say anything else, the sound of chatter and laughter comes through the door and the boys enter with four cups of coffee from Starbucks. Lydia's breath vanishes as soon as Stiles smiles at her – somehow, telling Allison has made her feelings seem truly real.

xxxxxxxxxx

 _Please review :D Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed x_


	13. Chapter 13

The four friends all sip at their coffee cups, enjoying the warm day with the sun shimmering in through the window. Stiles takes a seat next to Lydia, whilst Scott and Allison claim the other sofa for themselves and the start giggling softly to each other.

"Guess who text me while Scott and I were getting the coffee," Stiles grins and Lydia shrugs.

"No idea. Who?" she starts to get an uncomfortable feeling in her chest at the way he's smiling. She doubts that he would be like this if his dad had text him.

Instead of answering, Stiles takes out his phone and turns it around, much like he had done when showing Lydia the Facebook status about Scott and Allison, so that she could read the screen.

 **Sophia –** You have yet to text me and ask me out, so I thought I might speed up the process ;) Wanna hang out after school Monday? X

 **Stiles** – Sorry I have lacrosse tryouts after school Monday. Rain check?

 **Sophia** \- How about I come and watch you play and then we go out afterwards and we can hang? X

 **Stiles** – Sure, sounds good. Dinner?

 **Sophia** – See you Monday x

Lydia forces a fake smile as she gets to the end of the texts. She's so mad that this 'Sophia' girl can watch his lacrosse practice, something that's very important to him, and she can't. She's even more infuriated that Sophia gets to go out with him for dinner afterwards as well.

"So you're going on a date with her?" Lydia swallows hard and Allison turns her attention to their conversation at the mention of a date.

"Yeah looks like it," he nods and smiles, "She seems nice – better than Malia seemed. I think this might be okay"

"That's great," Lydia lies her ass off, "I really hope it is" Another lie.

Allison gives her a quick apologetic glance and Lydia shrugs at her, acting as if she will easily get over it and that it's not a big loss. It is, however, a huge loss and she wants to burst into tears right there and then.

They all sit around and chat for hours. Stiles and Scott eventually start a huge Xbox war with Ally on Scott's team, cheering him on and Lydia on Stiles'. They get really into it, the girls screaming in delight whenever their 'team-mate' kills the other player and groaning loudly when they get killed themselves.

Being a school night for most of them, Scott drives Allison home at around 6:30pm. This leaves Lydia and Stiles alone together again, but this time she doesn't feel comfortable. All she can think about is _Sophia_ and how she's going to be out with her Stiles.

"Lydia, I think you need to go home," Stiles tells her and she looks over at him. He smiles sadly at her and purses her lips in embarrassment.

"It's okay if you don't want me here, I'll find somewhere else to go. Allison's dad will probably have me, he's pretty fond of me," Lydia rambles, gathering her shirt in her fists and playing with it nervously.

"No, Lydia it's not that I don't want you around. I would let you stay here all week if that's what you wanted," he takes her hand and un-coils her fingers so that she releases her shirt.

"You would?" she gazes into his eyes, yet again, and can see the sparkle behind them.

"Of course I would," he laughs slightly and then the corners of his lips drop a bit but not completely, leaving a hint of a smile there still. "I just think that you need to patch things up with your Mom. You need to tell her how you feel and listen to how she feels…"

"Stiles it won't work like that," Lydia buts in, "I'll say one thing and she'll cut in with her opinion and we will just end up getting into another huge fight," she sighs heavily.

"I doubt she will now that she knows you're willing to leave," he insists, "Just try it and I promise, if you get into another fight, my door is always open for you," he smiles softly and she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him into an embrace.

"Thank you so much Stiles," she whispers to him and he squeezes her gently.

An hour later, Lydia is sitting in the passenger side of Stiles' Jeep outside her house. The lights are on downstairs, showing her that her Mom is home. She kind of hoped that she would be out so she could do this another time.

"Hey, I'm only fifteen minutes away. Call me for anything and I'll be here as soon as I can," he reassures her and she breathes out and smiles thankfully at him.

Lydia exits the car and slowly heads towards her door. She turns one last time to look at Stiles, she doesn't know why. Maybe because she needs a little more reassurance and she knows he can deliver. He nods at her, silently telling her that she's got this and then backs the Jeep out of her drive and turns the corner. Now she can't change her mind.

She takes the spare key out from underneath the second plant pot on the right, the one her mother always leaves it under, and opens her front door. Within seconds Natalie is stood in the hallway with her arms folded over her chest.

"Mom… I," Lydia tries to think of how to start but then she breaks down into tears. Her mother soon does too, rushing over to her daughter and pulling her against her into a hug.

"Lydia, I'm so sorry," Natalie sobs, brushing Lydia's hair behind her ear and then pulling away to look at her face.

"I'm sorry too," Lydia smiles, hugging her Mom again. "I think we should talk about some stuff"

They talk for ages, discussing the things they believe should change in the house and their relationship with each other. They agree that they need to spend more time with each other and also that Lydia's mom needs to care more for her daughter and actually seem concerned about what's wrong with her. However, Natalie firmly disagrees with less time at work and even suggests that she gets some overtime so that they have extra money to do more things.

"No Mom, overtime defeats the whole purpose. How are we supposed to do stuff together if you aren't here?" Lydia points out.

"Okay, no overtime," Natalie nods, seeing Lydia's point.

They find out more about each other's lives in the hour they talk than they have in their whole lives together. Lydia even tells her about Stiles and how she feels about him.

"I just… I really like him and it's the first time I've felt this in a long time," she admits, "Now it's over before it even started"

"You don't know that sweetheart. When I saw you two together, he seemed like he really loved you. I've never seen any of the other guys you've been with look at you that way," her mom insists and Lydia rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, Mom, that's because all they wanted was sex"

"Exactly. And Stiles doesn't look at you like that because he wants more from you," she laughs and Lydia sighs.

"He just wants to be friends. That's why he's going on a date with Sophia tomorrow night," Lydia sadly tears up a napkin sitting next to her and makes a pile on tiny tissue scraps.

"Who's this girl?" her mom asks curiously.

"Just some girl that asked him out. I'm not sure who she is; I don't think I know her," Lydia shrugs and her mother hums. "What?"

"He didn't ask her out, did he? She asked him. Doesn't that tell you a lot?"

"No because you didn't hear what he was saying. He said it felt different with her from the last girl he went on a date with and he thinks this one will be okay," Lydia argues and she doesn't know why. She wants to believe her mom and think that Stiles really does love her, but she doesn't.

"Look, maybe I'm wrong and he does want to just be your friend. What do I know, It's been a while since I was a teenager right? But I seriously think he likes you and that this date won't lead anywhere so don't worry," Natalie rubs her daughters shoulder as she stands up. "I'm going to bed; I have to work in the morning. Goodnight sweetheart"

"Night Mom"

Lydia hopes that her mother is right about the date part. She doesn't want Stiles to get a girlfriend, not unless it's her.


	14. Chapter 14

Stiles stands by his locker on Monday, after tryouts, typing out a text on his phone to Lydia. He types out 'Guess who just made the team ;D' and goes to press send but his phone turns black. His battery dies before he hits the send button and he knows for a fact that he left his only charger over at Scott's house.

"Hey Stiles, you did really well!" Sophia's voice sounds from beside him. He turns to face her and smiles.

"Thanks Soph," he says as he finishes placing his new lacrosse uniform in his locker.

"I have to get some things from my locker but I'll meet you out in the parking lot and then we'll grab dinner, yeah?" the blonde grins and Stiles nods at her. She smiles sweetly and then skips down the hall towards her locker.

Stiles feels a hand on his shoulder and the boy jumps, his body jolting from the surprise as he spins to face the culprit, Scott.

"Whoa dude, you scared the crap outta me," Stiles laughs, placing his hand over his chest to try and calm his heart beat. The other boy doesn't seem to be finding the situation funny. He looks at Stiles with a straight face. "What?" Stiles frowns.

"You going on a date with her when you like Lydia, that's what." Scott squints his eyes at the other boy as if he is stupid, and Scott believes that he is if he's willing to go on a date with someone else after hearing the way he talks about Lydia.

"Dude, Lydia and I… never going to happen," Stiles shrugs but inside he hates saying that sentence. "She's made it clear she doesn't want a boyfriend"

"Did she say she doesn't want a boyfriend? Or did she say she doesn't want a jerk boyfriend? Lydia's a really sweet girl and I think if you're going to have your first girlfriend then it should be someone like her… not someone like Sophia," Scott raises one eyebrow and Stiles rolls his eyes dramatically and starts walking towards the exit. "Stiles!"

"Scott! She knows I'm not a jerk, or at least I hope so by now, and she still hasn't tried anything with me. She doesn't want a boyfriend, not me anyway. I'm trying to move on and continue to be friends with her _so just let me,_ " Stiles shouts over his shoulder and then pushes the double doors open and heads over to Sophia, who is waiting by his Jeep for him, and ignores Scott's yells from behind him.

Lydia finally gets into her car after twenty minutes of assuring her mother that she's fine. It's Tuesday and Lydia insisted on going to school today, despite the doctor's recommendation of staying off for the week. She really does feel okay now though, apart from the miserable feeling in her chest that Stiles went out with Sophia last night. She hadn't known who the girl was until she 'accidentally' came across her Facebook profile yesterday. Now she recognises her. 'The competition' as she used to call her. The one other girl in the year that used to steal all of the boys that Lydia tried to flirt with and get them first. It's kind of her fault that Lydia ended up as bad as she did because the red head always wanted to compete and be the best, so she would have a different guy every day. That's the bad gene she got from her mother: always wanting to be the best at anything.

Lydia had sat impatiently all day on Monday after finding out, waiting for Stiles to text her. He hadn't made any sort of contact with her and hadn't replied to her texts. She's worried about him now – worried that he's hurt or in trouble and especially worried that he's ditched her for Sophia.

The strawberry blonde drives down to the school. She applies an extra coat of red lipstick in the mirror before strutting through the high school doors to find one of her friends. Ally and Scott, of course together, are the first she sees. She heads over to them and she can tell they are surprised to see her.

"Lyds, what are you doing here?" Allison asks as she hugs her best friend.

"Pleased to see me then?" Lydia jokes and the brunette rolls her eyes and smiles.

"How're you feeling?" Scott questions when it's his turn to hug the girl. Lydia shrugs, casually looking around for Stiles.

"Fine"

She's just about to go and look for him but the bell sounds along the corridors, starting her Physics lesson. She feels like groaning as the familiar sound rattles her eardrums. She takes her things out of her locker and walks with Ally to the Physics classroom. There's a note on the door when they get there, instructing them to head over to one of the computer rooms for a research lesson and so they head there instead.

Everyone is already in a seat when the girls get there and they have to separate and sit next to someone else where there's an empty chair. Allison gets the moodiest girl in the year, Chloe, and Lydia gets… the sweatiest, Kevin. _Great_ she thinks to herself and then she notices Stiles. He's sat at his desk, reading something on his screen.

He looks up at notices her. His eyes widen in surprise and he smiles warmly, giving her a small wave. She wants to ignore him. She wants to be angry at him for not texting her or replying to her but she doesn't. Instead, she smiles back as she takes her seat.

Lydia logs onto the computer in front of her and begins the research task on the board. Stiles catches her eye and hold up his phone, signalling that he wants her to check hers for messages. She furrows her eyebrows and pulls out her cell.

 **Stiles** – Sorry I didn't text you. My phone died and I left the charger over at Scott's. Only got it back this morning x

She can't help but smile to herself, thanking god that he wasn't ignoring her or too busy with another girl. She texts back.

 **Lydia** – I'll forgive you ;D What happened with your tryouts?

 **Stiles** – I made the team!

Lydia steals a glance at Stiles and grins wildly at him. He laughs quietly from his seat and then turns back to his phone.

 **Stiles** – I have some news to tell you!

 **Lydia** – Better than the lacrosse news? Wow, I'm in for a treat! X

She watches him laugh again as he reads her text and she feels a sense of pride. She eagerly watches his fingers typing, wondering what the news could be.

 **Stiles** – Inexperienced virgin boy is no longer :)

Lydia feels her heart drop out of her chest and roll across the floor, right over to Stiles' feet. " **Fuck!** " she mutters harshly under her breath… but not quite enough.

"Miss Martin!" the teacher calls over to her, an offended look on his face. This teacher hates swearing with a passion and makes every one of his students sign a 'no swearing in my lessons' agreement at the start of the year. She feels her cheeks flush red as she looks over to see Stiles' confused expression. He silently asks her 'what was that all about?' and she just sits there.

"Miss Martin, please go to the principal's office immediately," the teacher points to the door and Lydia has to do the walk of shame, all eyes on her as she leaves the classroom. The only pair of eyes she really feels, however, is the pair belonging to the brown haired boy who's looking at her so worriedly right now. The confused kid that she loves so much.

 _Got part of the idea for this chapter from one of my favourite movies ' Love, Rosie' so credit where it's due :D Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review, I love to read them when I get them x_


	15. Chapter 15

_So sorry it's taken this long to post the next part. I've been having a lot of trouble posting recently, I hope this goes okay. Please enjoy and please leave a review :) thanks_ _x_

Lydia walks along the corridor, not even close to the principals office. She continues her pace without even knowing where's she's heading; she just wants to be alone. There's a painful hollow feeling in her chest that she's never felt before. About half an hour passes before _he_ finally finds her.

"Lydia!" Stiles shouts through the building to grab her attention. She feels her cheeks flushing red already. She really doesn't want this conversation. She hears gentle, quick paced footsteps behind her and she knows he's running to catch up. "Hey," he grabs her arm slightly, just enough to turn her to face him and she can see how worried he looks. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Lydia shrugs but even if it wasn't obvious that there's definitely something up, her facial expression gives her away. He tilts his head, raising his eyebrow in a way that makes her want to open up. Makes her want to tell him everything and she doesn't know why - maybe she wants to anyway. "I just saw a picture of Jackson and some bimbo online. It's fine, don't worry. I just needed to cool off," she tells him and prays he doesn't see through her complete lie. That's the only excuse she can think of that Stiles might actually believe when, in fact, she is completely over Jackson.

"Don't think about that tool, he's not worth it," Stiles gently squeezes her shoulder and Lydia forces a smile; she really doesn't want to hear someone attempting to encourage her to get over Jackson again when she doesn't need it. Especially after how she feels now that she knows what Stiles and Sophia have done. She realises that he can tell her smile is forced when he pulls her into a hug against his chest. He thinks it's because of the picture - the one that doesn't even exist.

"Thanks," she mumbles into his plaid shirt, soaking in the embrace while it lasts. When Stiles pulls away, Lydia immediately misses his contact.

"Hey, did you get my last text?" Stiles nudges her arm playfully and the hollow feeling in Lydia's cheat grows bigger. She shakes her head, acting as if she has no idea what he's talking about and reaches into her bag for her phone

The second time she reads the text, it hurts just as much as the first. This time however, she forces herself to grin at him and fakes a cheery laugh. "Congratulations virgin boy," she has to turn away for a second, pretending to rearrange her clothing against her body so he can't see the wetness lacing her eyes while she blinks it away.

"Can't call me that anymore," he grins and somehow they both know to start walking again. They head along the corridor together, side by side as Stiles explains how his 'ordeal' happened.

"We went out for a meal,like planned, and got to know each other. She seems like a really cool girl, you know," he's smiling as he talks and Lydia can't help but smile too. Deep down she's thrilled that he's so happy but on the surface it still hurts.

"After the meal we went back to her place. Watched a movie, shared a big jar of strawberry gummys and talked some more. Eventually, one thing lead to another and... You know," his cheeks turn slightly red and Lydia wants to cup them in her hands and kiss them. She finds it so cute that he feels embarrassed to talk about sex, and also glad that he didn't go into detail. That would kill her.

"I'm glad that you had fun," she tells him, sadness lacing her voice no matter how hard she tries to cover it. She should be the one watching movies and eating gummys with him, not _her_.

"What's wrong?" Stiles stops walking so Lydia does too. He furrows his eyebrows and she wants to run away from him and hide. She decides that the feelings he gives her shouldn't even be legal.

"What? Nothing," she finds herself forcing yet another smile, trying her best to make it look genuine.

"Lydia, come on," Stiles presses, reaching his hand out to touch her but he's a step to far away and his fingers only trace over her skin slightly. Goose bumps erupt on her arm under his fingers and she sucks in a breath.

"I..." She contemplates telling him right there and then. Telling him how she really feels, why she really swore in class, how much she loves him. After this, she knows that for him she's happily drop her guard and go into a full proper relationship - boyfriend and girlfriend. The whole deal. She'd actually risk everything for him, despite her trust issues after Jackson. That is of course if he wanted her back.

"I just don't want you to ditch me completely for Sophia. That's all," she smiles weakly at him. Lydia had to make a quick decision: tell him or lie. And she chose to lie; he seems happy with Sophia and she won't be the one to complicate things. She doesn't want to confuse things, not when she had the chance to make a move before and was too scared. It's not fair for her to say it all now when he's already found someone who can make him happy after all of the stress.

"Are you kidding me?" Stiles wraps his arm over Lydia's shoulder and pulls her close to him. "Don't ever worry about that, ever. You're my best friend and I need you in my life, okay?" He assures her, smiling warmly.

"Yeah," she smiles back at him. The broken feeling has lessened, but not completely. She still has her Stiles and that's what really counts, even if he ends up with someone else. She just wishes it could be someone she likes. Someone other than 'Slaggy Sophia' as Lydia and Allison liked to call her. "So what's gonna happen between you and Sophia?" Lydia clucks her tongue as she speaks, trying to sound casual.

"We haven't really talked about it. I'm kind of waiting for her to talk to me first," he admits as they continue to walk through the school.

"Oh right," Lydia nods. She doesn't have a clue what to say; she really doesn't like the topic. She just wanted to find out if Stiles and Sophia are starting anything and now she wants this conversation to end. "What's going on with lacrosse then?" She asks, partly to change the subject but also because she really does want to know.

"Don't know when my first game is yet but I have practice everyday after school - apparently the coach here is determined to win," Stiles rolls his eyes as if he can think of a million better things to do but Lydia can see the passion behind them.

"You'll be fine," Lydia laughs, "how did you get out of lessons anyway?" She adds, the thought suddenly occurring to her.

"Teacher asked for a volunteer to make sure you make it to the principal. Apparently you have a reputation miss Martin," Stiles winks and a bubbly laugh erupts inside Lydia.

"Well I guess I've just proved the reputation to be right then," she grins and he nods.

"I guess you're lucky to have such an amazing escort. Wouldn't want you getting in even more trouble now, would we?" He says in a playful tone.

"Oh well then why are we so far away from the destination?" Lydia shrugs, mimicking his playful wink.

"Sight seeing before trouble, that's my motto," he tries to sound serious but then they both break into loud laughter, earning a scowl from a teacher marking papers through a classroom with an open door.

The bell rattles through the building and Lydia feels like smashing it to pieces with a sledge hammer. she doesn't want to go to the next lesson; she doesn't want to end the time she's having with Stiles. Something tells her that their times like these are going to cut down a lot, despite what he says.

"No more being a rebel young lady, get to class," Stiles feigns authority and Lydia rolls her eyes and grins at him.

"I'm so sorry," she mimicks being afraid and scuttles through the hallway. She turns around and waves at him as the classroom doors start to pour out students and then they both head in opposite directions.


	16. Chapter 16

Allison and Lydia are the first at their table for lunch. Next comes Scott and Kira decides to join them too, telling them that Malia's ditched her for her boyfriend. Lydia keeps an eye on the door, waiting for Stiles.

"Lydia, you in?" Lydia suddenly hears Allison speaking and flushes pink I'm embarrassment; she hasn't been listening to her friends. Too busy waiting for Stiles.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asks and Allison gives her a death stare.

"Do you ever listen to me? Like at all?" She huffs but it's obvious she isn't as annoyed as she's making out.

"Movie night at mine," Scott explains for her. "Stiles and I had the idea in second period."

"When?" Lydia acts as if she might have plans, when if fact she has none. There's nothing more she's like to do than a movie night with all of her besties. She doesn't know why she's acting like she may be busy; they're her closest friends.

"Tomorrow after school. Stiles said he'd bring drinks, alcoholic drinks might I add. Ally's bringing pizza. It's my house so I'm not bringing anything bitches," he grins.

"Can I come?" Kira chimes in, "I have some super rare and cool candy from when my mom went to Mexico. I can bring that," she looks nervous as if she doesn't think anybody would accept her.

"Of course you can," Allison playfully throws a chip across the table at her, making the girl giggle. Lydia feels starving; she forgot to bring money or lunch, again. She's always doing this and watching her friends eat makes the monster rumbling in her stomach unbearable.

"Okay so that's Kira In. Lydia?" Scott turns to the red head and she pretends to think once more, even though she knows the answer.

"Yeah, I'm in," she shrugs and Ally, Kira and Scott all cheer.

The group all erupt into banter-filled chatter but Lydia's mind is somewhere else. Her eyes keep drifting over to the door, checking for any signs of Stiles. Where is he? Suddenly the talking goes quiet and their laughter drowns out. Lydia frowns at Allison, silently asking what's wrong with them all but the brunette doesn't see her glance; her eyes are looking behind Lydia, any trace of a smile gone. Lydia twists her head, following her friends eyes and immediately wishes she hadn't. Right behind her, smiling down at her seat, Jackson is stood.

Stiles leans against his locker, listening to Sophia gushing about how much fun she had and that she wants to hang out again soon.

He likes her, he really does. But she's not Lydia. Even last night he kept thinking about the ways they are different to each other. Some obvious things like how Sophia is blonde whilst Lydia is strawberry blonde and how Lydia has fair skin and Sophia is slightly tanned. How Lydia's eyes are a greenish brown colour but Sophia's are a straight, amazing blue. The thin line of lips, smothered in pink gloss Sophia has and the full top and bottom lip with a layer of lipstick painted on Lydia's. And then he compared less obvious stuff. Like how Lydia has a slightly husky but higher pitched laugh, delightful to the ear drums and Sophia has a deeper, smooth laugh. How Lydia gets, and even shares, his humour but Sophia sometimes has a blank expression when he makes a joke, not understanding, and he has to slyly get onto another subject. Both girls are perfect in their own ways and he's amazed he even got the chance to go on a date with Sophia but he found himself, no matter how guilty he felt about it, wishing she was Lydia. Even when they went back to her place and things started to get a little heated, he almost didn't go through with it because of his feelings for the red head. But he kept telling himself that she doesn't feel the same was as he does about her and that he needs to move on. Sophia's a great girl, he can grow to feel the same for her as he does for Lydia.

"Why don't you come to the movie night tomorrow?" Stiles asks her. He decides it's a perfect time for her and Lydia to meet and he prays that they can become best friends too, just like he has with Lyds. Then he can still always hang around with them both at the same time and be the same, not feeling awkward, if the whole dating thing works out with Soph anyway.

"Really?" Sophia widens her eyes as if he had just pulled out an engagement ring. "I wouldn't want to intrude on your time with your friends," she shuffles on her heels.

"No they won't mind. It'll be a good chance to get to know them too, I have someone I particularly want you to meet," he tells her and she leans towards him. He expects a peck on the cheek but her lips land directly on his, staying there for longer than necessary before she moves back again.

"Then I'll come," she ruffles his hair and then starts walking away backwards, still looking at him. "I have to meet some friends this lunch time, go and tell yours that I'm coming," she instructs and he nods at her. She turns away and struts off, leaving him to disappear into the lunch hall. He knows Scott is inviting Lydia to the movie night and he hopes she does come, not only to meet Sophia but because he wants her there too.

Lydia is now stood up, gawping at Jackson. She never thought she'd see him again after he left, especially at this school; he always said he hated it. It takes her a moment to decide whether it's real or not, praying it's just a bad dream.

"Thought you might be a little happier to see me than this," Jackson finally speaks, reminding her of the voice she was happy to forget.

"Why would she be?" Allison calls out to him. Lydia turns to face her and sees the scowl evident on her features. "You left her, without a word might I add, and gave her the worst excuse when you finally got in contact with her to tell her why," she folds her arms after, signalling that she's done making her point.

"Yeah I made a bad mistake. I get that and in sorry, I should have never said those things to you. No, I shouldn't have left. It was the worst mistake I could have made," Jackson looks directly at Lydia as he speaks, sadness lacing his tone. "But I came back. Isn't that the most important thing?" He smiles softly at her.

Lydia can't think of anything to say. Especially not in front of the whole lunch hall, who are all glancing over at them; everyone knows all about their break up and are equally as surprised as she is to see him. So instead of speaking, she grabs his arms roughly and yanks him towards the door without saying a word to anyone.

Stiles is almost knocked over as the door is shoved open, just as he was about to open it, and out strolls a very angry Lydia with some guy in tow - she didn't even notice him. Stiles feels sorry for the poor sucker, whatever he did to piss off that little firecracker.

He walks into the hall and everyone is quiet, only mild whispers here and there. Feeling awkward, he heads over to Allison, Scott and Kira.

"What did I miss?" Stiles asks them and Allison just sits back in her chair, sipping her drink with raised eyebrows. "Who was that guy with Lydia?" He uses that question instead, hoping to get a better answer than Allison gave him; he's figured out by now that it must have something to do with them.

"Jackson..." Scott mumbles, obviously in a mild state of shock. Stiles remembers hearing that Jackson left without a trace, never to return. He also remembers the pain he caused Lydia...

"Jackson?" He scoffs, already turning to head after them. He wants to be there for her; after her reaction from the picture he guesses she's not in any place to handle him on her own right now.

"Stiles!" Allison shouts over to him. "Don't go after them. Leave them too it, Lydia's a strong girl. She needs to tell him to leave her alone by herself, she can do it. He won't listen if it's you," she tells him and he scoffs even louder.

"You wanna bet? His groin can meet my foot, that'll send a clear enough message," he knows he's getting way too worked up but he can't help it. It's _Lydia_.

"You don't think I wanna be there with her?" Allison raises her voice, getting angry that he would make it seem in any way like she doesn't care about her best friend. "This is for the best, just leave it," she Instructs matter of factly.

Stiles thinks about it for a second before sighing and slumping down into the nearest chair to him on the table. He really hopes that Allison is right and that she can take care of herself around Jackson


	17. Chapter 17

"What do you want?" Lydia folds her arms to show that she would rather be somewhere else. Jackson seems to look past it, taking a step towards her.

"I want to talk," he answers and she scoffs at the irony.

"Now you wanna talk?" she laughs humourlessly. "After leaving with no word, nothing to tell me you were okay and then when you finally agree to return my phone calls, you leave me the single worst excuse known to mankind, ruining my love life for _way_ too long, but now you wanna talk so it's okay?" Lydia rants, taking a big gulp of air when she's done to replace the oxygen she just rambled out.

"I was a douche, I get it. But now I want to make it up to you," he reaches out to touch her and she is immediately reminded of Stiles. She steps away abruptly and a flash of hurt momentarily covers Jackson's features before disappearing again.

"How," Lydia shrugs. "How could you possibly make it up to me after that?" she feels like she should be crying or at least feeling something to do with the sad emotion. But all she feels is angry – angry that he's wasting her time even talking to her again. She would rather be somewhere else. With _someone_ else.

"With a lot of work, I know it will take time. I want to get to where we were before, even make it better," He starts and all she can think about is how bad their relationship got. The constant arguments and fights, almost break-ups before running back to do it all again. A vicious circle, but maybe he's changed? People can change, right?

"Let me start by taking you out. Tomorrow night," he's practically begging her to say yes with his tone and the familiarity of the good times at the start of their relationship comes flooding in. _No_ she tells herself. _He's not really like that, it's a cover_.

"Can't," she states shortly, "I'm having a movie night with my friends."

"Lydia please, I can't make it up to you if you don't let me. And I really want to," he steps closer to her, enclosing the gap she purposely made between them.

"I'm being serious. I really have a movie night, I can't," she insists. She doesn't know why she's trying to explain herself to him, he doesn't deserve it.

"Then another night. Please?" he widens his eyes, begging her. She wants to say no. She wants to tell him that he's a dick and that she can't deal with him in her life – and she doesn't want too. She wants to tell him about _Stiles_. And then she remembers Sophia.

"Okay fine. When?" she agrees, regretting her decision before she even made it.

"You're bringing her?" Scott frowns, not even bothering to hide his disapproval. "What about your feelings for Lydia?" he adds, whispering so that Ally can't hear; his girlfriend doesn't know about Stiles' feelings for Lydia.

"I know I'm such an idiot. I don't know why I invited her I just – I just thought they could be friends or whatever and now Ally tells me they're like enemy's…" he rubs his hands over his face dramatically. "Now that I think about it, It would have been a terrible idea even if they weren't enemy's; I'm bringing the girl in dating to meet the girl I…" he stops before saying the last part, hoping Allison doesn't catch on to what he was supposed to end the sentence with. She would tell the red head, for sure. "Good thinking Stiles, great," he scolds himself, slapping his hands onto his knees in frustration.

"You've been dating Sophia McMillan?" Allison asks for the fourth time. As soon as Stiles said who it was, the brunette was quick to display her hate for the girl. How could she forget Lydia's worst nightmare and competition?

"Yes, Sophia McMillan," Stiles repeats again with a hint of anger in his voice. He at least expected a little bit of support from his supposed best friends, even if he did make a stupid decision – well, from Scott at least.

"Stiles, don't bring her. Tell her we all cancelled and come on your own; you don't know Sophia like we do and trust me she's bad news," Scott pleads and something in his tone tells Stiles that he's not just saying that because of Lydia. He finds himself reconsidering everything he has with Sophia, and by doing that he starts to overthink whether he actually feels anything real for her if he's even considering it.

"Okay," he decides. "I'll just tell her we aren't working out anyway," he already feels bad about it but he knows it's for the best.

Right on cue, Lydia enters the hall looking slightly less angry than when Stiles saw her before. He hopes it's because she's not stressed anymore and she's finally told Jackson where to stick it.

Lydia swiftly crosses the room with her head held high, ignoring the curious stares and whispers she's getting. She feels a lot better when she notices Stiles sitting at the table and she relaxes.

"Hey Lyds," Allison says softly when she reaches the table and sits down. Lydia can hear the normal causal chatter of the lunch hall finally start to build back up again.

"Hey," she replies, noticing that her feeling of hunger has disappeared completely, even with all of the others food lying in front of her.

"How'd it go?" Scott also uses a softer voice than normal, being friendlier to her.

"Fine," she shrugs, not sure if she should tell them what she's agreed too.

"What happened?" Stiles joins in, edging his chair closer to her and reaching for her hand under the table. She moves hers out of the way and he looks hurt. She ignores it.

"He apologised and said he wants to make it up to me," she acts as if it's nothing, glancing at them all and shrugging.

"Make it up to you how?" Stiles frowns, his hand now back on his lap. She wants to reach out for it, hold onto it like there's no tomorrow but she can't do that anymore.

"I agreed to go on a date with him. Thursday night," she forces a smile but her insides are bursting when she sees all of their shocked faces – especially Stiles'.

"You're kidding, right?" Allison has a look on her face that's like she doesn't know whether to smile or not. Like she wants Lydia to be messing with her but she isn't entirely sure.

"No," Lydia replies, "It's not a big deal. I think he's changed, he seems like a better person and I'll find out by going on a date with him, its fine," she smoothes her skirt over her legs casually. Her words are actually more to convince herself.

"Lydia can handle herself around Jackson, can she?" Stiles doesn't even bother to say it quietly to Allison. He gets up and leaves the table, leaving Lydia with a hurt look on her face. He knows he's just dropped Allison in it slightly but right now he doesn't care. He feels numb and he knows it's selfish but he can't help it.

He wanders the corridor, purposely avoiding Lydia. He passes her looking around for him occasionally but manages to keep out of her view. He leans against his locker for a while, thinking about everything. He decided he's still going to tell Sophia he doesn't like her- she's a nice girl, to him, and he owes her that much.

Finding her wasn't that hard. She's told him on more than one occasion that she hangs out in the library at lunch times. He's pretty sure she was hinting at him to join her but he never had any intention of doing so.

"Hey!" she grins wildly when he approached her table, making what he's about to do harder. For her sake anyway.

"I need to talk to you," he swallows and her smile drops.

"I can't come to the movie, can I? Your friends don't like it," she sticks out her bottom lip but then smiles again. "It doesn't matter, we can still hang out another time," she flicks her hair over her shoulder and he's reminded of Lydia; she does that all the time. A gaping hole opens in his chest and he feels like crying. ' _I think he's changed, he seems like a better person_ ' those words float around in his head.

"It's not just that," he finally tells her and she cocks her head to the side.

"Then enlighten me?" she still has the corners of her mouth turned up, as if she's expecting good news from him.

"We're not really working out. It's really nothing to do with you and I'm really sorry. It's just I can't," he rushes the words out, not wanting to hang about for too long. Rip the band aid off fast.

"You're kidding me?" she scoffs, " _you're_ breaking up with _me_?" she stands up, ignoring the librarians shushes as she raises her voice. "I love you and you're breaking my heart?" she has tears in her eyes. "Well let me tell you something, this isn't going to be good for you. I'm going to _ruin_ your pathetic little life!" she screams and then storms out of the room. Stiles is both stunned and surprised. Also a little freaked out. He heads for the only place he can think of to release emotions – the lacrosse field.


	18. Chapter 18

Lydia searches for Stiles for ages. She wants to explain to him why she said yes to going on a date with Jackson – of course he would be mad at her after everything she's told him about their relationship. She ends up at the library, knowing it's where Sophia hangs out. Maybe he's with her.

Lydia is stunned to find Sophia sitting with one of her friends at the table, crying. She doesn't know whether to go over there and ask but before she can make a decision, Sophia spots her and stands up, coming towards her. _Great_ Lydia thinks _just what I need right now_.

"Lydia," Sophia stops in front of her, her voice wavering as she says her name. Lydia doesn't reply, wondering what on earth got this girl into a state like that. She waits for some kind of comment or remark, a cruel one, but instead she bursts into tears and runs into the red head, almost knocking her over. Lydia doesn't know what to do, she's the most confused she's ever been in her life – Sophia is hugging her for some bazaar reason, crying on her shoulder.

"Sophia?" Lydia finally speaks, her arms hovering above the blonde girl. She doesn't know whether to hug her back.

"Stiles dumped me," she sobs, squeezing Lydia tighter as she speaks. Now Lydia has the surprised emotion added onto the confused and shocked ones. She didn't think it was possible to feel so many different emotions at the same time.

"Why?" Lydia frowns in confusion; Stiles had seemed to be into her when they spoke earlier in the day and now he dumps her?

"I don't know!" Sophia finally pulls away from the hug and Lydia is over-washed with relief. "He just said we aren't working out and dumped me," fresh tears roll down her cheeks and Lydia actually feels sorry for her.

"It's okay, calm down Soph," Lydia tries to sooth the girl. If it had been Stiles dumping her she knows she would react in the exact same way, more or less.

"It's not okay!" Sophia yells, flipping off the librarian when she shushes her for what must have been the hundredth time judging by the old woman's facial expression.

"Let's get out of the library and talk," Lydia grabs the other girl and leads her out of the room before she can get into any more trouble. They find themselves going to the quietest place Lydia could think of this late in the lunch break: the lacrosse field.

"You know Stiles really likes you," Sophia smiles at her, actually smiles! "He was telling me how much of a good friend you are on our date, his _best_ friend," she drifts off for a second to think about their date. "That's why I'm talking to you right now, he said you always like to help people when you can," she takes a deep breath.

"Yeah," Lydia tries to hold back a smile at the thought of Stiles gushing about her while on a date with Sophia. "What can I do?" she's actually beginning to sort of like this girl a little bit now.

"I want you to talk to Stiles for me. Give him something for me," she begins and Lydia knows what she's going to say: get Stiles to take her back and give him a gift to help persuade him. But she doesn't want too, as much as she does feel sorry for her; obviously is Stiles broke it off with her then there must have been a reason. And there is also that selfish reason for herself.

"Sophia, I can't do that," she tells her, using the softest voice she can. "When people break up there's usually a reason. Maybe Stiles didn't exactly make it clear but there must have been something wrong," she watches Sophia's eyes widen and cover with tears again.

"I know, it's too soon to do anything yet," she swallows and looks intently at Lydia for a second. "I know the reason; it's not hard to figure out. I sort of knew when we were on the date but he's just so great, a really good person and sooo sweet, I just didn't want to believe it," she sighs.

"What's the reason?" Lydia is actually curious to know. She's still so surprised that he would talk about Sophia so highly and then just dump her.

"You have to figure that out for yourself," Sophia tells her and a wave of frustration joins Lydia's pile of emotions.

"Okay, that was frustratingly vague. How am I supposed to figure out why Stiles broke up with _you_ ," Lydia wants to roll her eyes but resists; this girl doesn't get that she does it all the time and may take offence.

"Think about it," the tears seem to evaporate immediately from Sophia's eyes and she almost seems excited. Lydia does as she's told and thinks.

"No," Lydia shakes her head. "You don't think that he… no way, I'm his best friend," although she's denying it, Lydia secretly hopes that Soph is right.

"He spent most of our date talking about you. I didn't even know who he was talking about until recently. You know I used to think you were a bitch," Sophia scrunches her nose up for a second, as if thinking about the time she thought of the strawberry blonde as a bitch.

"Ditto," Lydia retorts, slightly offended even though she already knew.

"But you seem like a cool girl and I can see why Stiles likes you. We need to hang out sometime, actually get to know each other," she adds, smiling.

"But I thought you like him. Why do you like me if you think he has a crush on me?" Lydia furrows her eyebrows.

"I can get over Stiles. It just hurts because it's fresh, you know. I'm Sophia McMillan, I can get any guy I want," she flicks her hair over her shoulder and Lydia can't help but smile. "And I also meant what I said about him being a good guy, he deserves to be happy and if I wasn't doing it for him then okay."

"Well thank you for telling me this, it means a lot," Lydia internally cringes at her own words.

"Because you like him too?" Sophia nudges her arm and Lydia laughs slightly.

"Yeah, I really do," she admits and she has no idea why. A few minutes ago she hated this girl.

Sophia checks the time on her phone and stands up. "I'm going to head back towards the building, the bell will go any minute now," she tells Lydia. The red head starts to push herself off the ground to join her, but the blonde is already walking away.

"Don't miss out on this Lydia, he's definitely one of the good ones. I sure don't deserve him," Sophia smiles at her one last time and then disappears behind the bleachers to head back to classes.

"Lydia, you okay?" Stiles calls and she spins around quickly to face him, completely shocked that he's there. She'd been looking for him for ages and now he just turns up when she's no longer looking… typical. He's heading towards her from the middle of the lacrosse field, a concerned look on his face as if thinking Sophia may have said something bad.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiles back at him.

"So… Jackson?" Stiles bites his lip.

"Ugh, if you hadn't stormed off at lunch I could have explained that I only said I would go on the date with him because I want to tell him to leave me alone, but not at school where everyone is watching," Lydia huffs and Stiles grins.

"Okay," he nods shortly, still grinning.

Because of the idea Sophia has now put into her head, the possibility of him actually liking her back, she finds herself noticing the way he smiles at her. And the way he stands an inch too close, his arms hovering as if he wants to reach out and touch her, hold her hand, but thinks he can't. The way he stormed off at the mention of a date with Jackson… Her heartbeat goes crazy; she was so focused on the fact that she likes him, she never thought he could ever like her back. Or maybe that's just his way of being friendly. Maybe both her and Sophia read into his manner wrong and he doesn't like her back. Only one way to find out… _here goes Lydia_.

"Can I talk to you about something?" She forces herself to be confident… and then the bell goes.

"Yeah, sure but we gotta get to class. Can it wait? I'm at lacrosse practice after school but if you come to that we can talk after, yeah?" he licks his lips in a way that has Lydia almost falling on the floor. "You'll also get to see me playing, which I hear you've been dying to see," he teases.

"Yeah, sure," she agrees, managing a smile even though her insides are burning with anticipation, and fear.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he stops smiling, his face turning into a frown that is equally as good looking as his smile, but Lydia likes it better when he's happy.

"Of course," she gives him a playful dig with her elbow to try and convince him and it seems to work. He wraps his arm around her shoulder and they start walking to class together.


	19. Chapter 19

Lydia tries to take notes, like she always does, but can't focus on what the teacher is saying. All she can think about is tonight, after lacrosse practice. When she finally asks Stiles how he feels. She prays he feels like she does.

"Hey, Lydia," Sophia whispers from behind her, grabbing her attention. Lydia spins around to face her while the teachers back is turned.

"What?" Lydia whispers back. Why the hell is Sophia so interested in her now?

"How did it go? With you and Stiles, I mean," she asks, genuine curiosity in her tone. "Are you two together now?"

"What? No," Lydia shakes her head, furrowing her eyebrows unintentionally.

"But he had his arm around you, I saw," Sophia is the one furrowing her eyebrows now.

"Why do you…" Lydia doesn't know how to ask without sounding rude. "I thought you loved him? Why are you so eager for me to be with him?"

"I'm over it, we weren't even together for very long," she tells Lydia but a glint in her ocean blue eyes tells her it isn't entirely true. "So… have you asked him if he likes you?"

"No, we didn't have time," Lydia admits, turning around briefly to make sure the teachers still not looking. "I'm talking to him after lacrosse practice tonight."

"That's great, Lyds," Sophia grins but a layer of wet leaks over her eye, which she quickly blinks away, and Lydia feels bad for telling her the truth.

Lydia gives Sophia a small nod and turns back around without saying anything else. She really can't focus on the lesson now and then when the bell goes, she sits through another hour long lesson. The lesson being math, Lydia can use it to pass the time; she actually enjoys math lessons and learning about new math methods and equations.

The bell goes and she gets hit with nerves and excitement. She really does want to see him in action, playing the game she has anticipated seeing him play. She almost wishes that she chose a different time to talk to him so she could enjoy it more.

Stiles pulls his lacrosse numbered shirt over his head, listening to Scott gush about how amazing Allison is. He tunes out, thinking back to Lydia and that she really wanted to talk to him. He hopes everything is okay with her.

"Yo, earth to Stiles," Scott laughs, shoving him on the shoulder to wake him up from his day dream. "You in there, man?"

"Sorry, you're just really boring," Stiles grins and Scott shoves him playfully again, this time slightly harder. "What did you say, anything important?"

"We're hanging out after the practice. I feel like it's been a while since our last guy's night," Scott tells him matter-of-factly.

"Have we ever had a 'guy's night'?" Stiles scrunches his nose up, actually pondering his question.

"Exactly," Scott winks, "Now you see my point."

"Dude, I can't," Stiles admits as he straps his shin pads onto his legs. "I promised Lydia I would talk to her after practice. She wanted to earlier but we didn't have time."

"Lydia will understand, you guys hang out all the time," Scott answers a little too quickly and Stiles detects a hint of jealousy in his voice. He feels bad; he really has spent more time with Lydia than with him.

"Yeah, I'll tell her we can talk tomorrow then," Stiles smiles and Scott nods, cheering up immediately and pulling his friend out of the door, towards the lacrosse field.

Stiles glances around the benches, set out for viewers, and finds the red head. She's sat next to Allison, chatting and laughing about something. She catches his eye and waves happily at him. _Maybe she will be alright to talk another time?_ He hopes. _She seems okay_.

The practice begins and Lydia is cheering within the first three minutes. Stiles, number 24, caught the ball off Scott, number 11, and threw it straight into the net. She screams in delight as she watches his team mates slap him on the shoulder while he high-fives Scott. Another five minutes and Scott scores, then Stiles scores again and then Stiles again.

"He's really good at this!" Lydia yells to Ally over the cheerful screams and 'woops'. The brunette simply nods, smiling wildly and not bothering to waste her voice shouting over the racket.

Despite it being a practice only, played against the same team just split in half, everyone is cheering Stiles and Scott like it's a real game, like they just won an actual game against real opponents. It seems as if everyone forgot it was a practice and got lost in the moment but Lydia joins in too.

Stiles can't believe the attention he and Scott are getting from a simple practice. People are screaming their names, lifting them up and congratulating them. The coach is wild, laughing and crying as if he just won the jack pot. Stiles turns to see Lydia's reaction, but she is already right behind him.

"You were great!" Lydia shouts over the noise so he can hear her.

"Thanks. It's only a practice," he shouts back and she frowns slightly.

"What?" she asks, not catching what he said over the building chants happening beside them.

"It's just a practice!" he repeats but she just shrugs, not hearing again. Instead of repeating himself again, he takes her arm and leads her to the locker room where it's quiet. "I said it's just a practice," he laughs when they get inside the boys locker room.

"Never been in here before," Lydia looks around, "I always thought boy's changing rooms were so much cooler than the girls when I was younger. People would tell me there were games and everything in them," Lydia giggles at her own memory.

"You seriously believed all that?" Stiles shakes his head in disbelief. "So how's the reality working out for you?"

"It smells," she concludes and he laughs loudly.

"Yeah, that's a boys locker room for you," he sits down on the bench, used to help players put on shoes, and Lydia sits next to him. A couple of guys enter the room, giving her strange looks for being in the room and then disappearing round the corner to have a shower without asking questions; she's with Stiles, the best player of the night, so they don't care.

Lydia watches Stiles, hair wet with sweat and glistening eyes from the attention he's never had before. She finds him incredibly hot right now. They just stare at each other for a while, smiling. But it's not awkward in any way. And then Lydia remembers what she wanted to talk to him about.

"Stiles, can we talk now?" she asks and his eyes drop to the floor for a second before guiltily landing back on her.

"I promised Scott I would hang out with him, he seems sort of… jealous that we don't hang out as much as you and I do," Stiles gives her an apologetic look and she sighs.

"Yeah, okay," she forces a smile but can't keep it on her face for long, though she tries. She's really disappointed; she'd spent the whole afternoon preparing herself and building her confidence up, only to have to wait and have it knocked down again. She doubts she'll even build the confidence to ask again. _I guess that's the end of that_.

"Hey, you okay?" he edges closer to her on the bench and she nods, trying to force another smile. "Okay, talk," he tells her.

"No, you and Scott go hang out. I can wait. Its fine," Lydia lets him take her hand in his and rolls her eyes as he shakes his head.

"Scott can wait, he's not even here yet. I bet he's making out with Allison on the field so we have while," Stiles tries to lighten the mood a bit and it works. Lydia laughs at his comment and leans her head on the metal bar behind her, unsure whether she wants to do this anymore. _Yes_ she tells herself _you've been waiting to do this all afternoon_.

"I wanted to ask…" she clears her throat and his eyes narrows in concern. "I wanted to ask if you liked me," she breathes out, her heart clenching in anticipation of the answer.

"Of course I like you," Stiles laughs, "You're my best friend, dumbass," he gives her a kiss on the forehead, which makes her feel even worse inside.

"I mean… like, like me. Love me, whatever you wanna call it," Lydia can barely breathe anymore. She never thought it would be this hard to ask a question.

"What?" Stiles cheeks turn a bright red colour that Lydia almost smiles at. "Where's this coming from?" he avoids answering her question directly, giving Lydia two options: either he's doing it because he doesn't love her and feels embarrassed that she would even think that. Or, because he does and he feels embarrassed that she's figured it out. She decides, for her own hearts sake, to go with the second option and then she makes the leap of faith.

"Because I love _you_ , Stiles. Recently I've been thinking about the possibility that you may like me back and I couldn't just let it go on a maybe. I had to ask," she spits out as quickly as she can, her heartbeat sounding inside her own head.

Stiles is silent for a while, processing the information given to him and Lydia starts to worry she just ruined everything. "But you don't do boyfriends," is the first thing Stiles says and Lydia goes to scoff, but holds it in.

"Well I would for you," she tells him honestly, "I definitely would for you, Stiles."

Stiles can't speak. He honestly can't make the words come out. He tries, really hard, but all that comes out is a small gasp of air. Lydia's breathing quickens and her face visibly shrinks – she's embarrassed. She thinks he doesn't feel the same way. _Come on, Stiles! Speak you idiot!_

He watches as Lydia's eyes widen as if she's going to cry and, with his tongue paralysed from shock, he does the only thing he can think of and kisses her. He just leans forward and kisses her. He can feel her tensing in surprise but it quickly melts away and she wraps her arms around him and pulls him closer to her.

When Scott comes in, Stiles and Lydia are in the deepest kiss either of them have ever been in. They forget that they're in a boy's locker room and anybody can walk in and see them; to them, they're in their own little world with no intention of leaving.

"Ahem," Scott clears his throat loudly and the pair break apart, leaving both of them feeling cold and empty without the other being close to them. "Oh sorry, did I interrupt something?" Scott is obviously trying to hide a smile as he turns to Lydia. "Ally is waiting for you outside. I think she might want you to tell her something. But that's just a guess," he feigns ignorance and Lydia flips him off.

Both Stiles and Scott laugh at her sass as she exits the room and then Scott's eyes fall onto Stiles. "Tell me everything!" he beams before Stiles can speak.


	20. Chapter 20

After a long hour of explaining from both Stiles and Lydia, telling Scott and Allison all about their kiss and everything, the two can finally relax with all of their feeling up in the air and out of their systems. Another hour of expressing happiness etc. from the other couple, Scott and Allison, and the discussion is finally over, leaving the friends to enjoy a nice outing together.

Lydia's phone sounds with her text tone and her heart jitters a little; she hopes its Stiles.

 **Stiles** – Scott and I are going to head home for some sleep in a few. When're you thinking of going back?

"What is it?" Allison asks Lydia's grin but she already knows its Stiles texting. She can guess that much.

"Nothing, just Stiles asking when I'm going home. He says him and Scott are heading back soon," Lydia shrugs. She'd hoped for a slightly better text but it's better than nothing.

"Dumbass, say now!" Allison rolls her eyes at Lydia, silently calling her an idiot. "He's trying to take you home."

"Oh?" Lydia frowns, reading the text again. "Oh!" she sees what Allison means and her moment of disappointment is definitely over. And then she starts typing.

 **Lydia –** Now I think

 **Stiles** – Where are you? I'll come and get you

Lydia smiles to herself. Ally was right and she's so thankful that she didn't mess it up and say she was staying out for a while. She texts him her location and the girls sit for a while, talking about the boys some more. Scott gets there first on his bike, a spare helmet for Allison already in his hands before she even stands up. Turns out he always picks Ally up, without asking, when he's ready to go in. As nice as Lydia thinks the couple are together, she's happy that Stiles asks and doesn't just come and get her. That way, she still has the option to stay if she wants.

"Cya tomorrow Lydia," Allison chirps over her shoulder as Scott helps her onto the back of his bike.

"You sure that things safe?" Lydia mutters to herself but Scott hears her and grins.

"Its 100% safe with me driving," he laughs and then starts the engine, riding down the road and passing a blue Jeep as they go.

Lydia stands up, trying not to smile like an idiot but can't hold it in anymore when Stiles gets out to open the door for her.

"Really?" she rolls her eyes at him but she knows he can tell she really loves it. He simply leans on the car, holding the door open and smirks at her, nodding. She jumps into the Jeep, checking her make-up in the mirror as Stiles goes back round to the driver's seat.

"You okay?" he asks as he starts driving, briefly glancing at her but keeping his eyes on the road.

"Yeah, I'm great," she grins, leaning her head onto the cool window and watching the water slide down from the starting rain.

"Lyds, about that kiss," he starts and the girl's heart melts. _He didn't like it_ she thinks, swallowing hard as she awaits him to finish the sentence. "It was the best thing I've ever done in my life," he concludes and Lydia laughs. The amount of relief flooding her system right now would probably be enough to fly a plane to the other side of the world and then back again.

"Me too," she breathes out and he reaches one hand out to the side, keeping the other on the wheel, and grabbing hers. They interlock their fingers and rest them on Lydia's knee. "So… now what?" Lydia finally asks the question that's been circling her brain since the kiss.

"What do you mean?" Stiles looks at her for a second again and then back at the road ahead.

"I mean, what do we do now?" she tries to clarify but it's hard to leave hints without outright saying it and she's too nervous to do that.

"As is, what about _us_?" he says it so casually and Lydia is amazed that he can. Her heart feels like it's about to pound out of her chest and words get lodged in her throat, but he can say that so casually?

"Yeah," she nods even though he is looking ahead of him. She watches his mouth turn into a smile and feels slightly better.

"Well, after the words you said to me," he pauses, wetting his lips and she holds her breath in anticipation – even though she can pretty much guess the answer now. "I'm not taking no as an answer. So there kind of _has_ to be an us," he stops the car outside her house but she has no intention of getting out yet.

"There's an us?" saying the words out loud scares her and fills her with joy at the same time.

"There's an us," he confirms and she bursts out laughing. There isn't really a reason other than sheer joy, but she just laughs.

"I love you so much," she finally speaks, and then looks startled by her own words. She stops laughing, eyeing him up cautiously as if saying those words could ruin the whole relationship just as it's started.

Instead, he takes both of hands in his and looks deeply into her eyes as if reading her nervous thoughts. "I love you too."

They kiss again. Not like the locker room kiss, much more soft and sweet but Lydia enjoys it just as much. "I gotta get back," Stiles eventually whispers.

"Yeah I should probably go inside," she whispers back. He kisses her forehead and leans back into his seat. Lydia already misses the comfort of having him near her but she gets out anyway, waving from her doorway and smiling sheepishly. She then turns and enters her house, closing the door behind her and leaning against it, almost jumping up and down in excitement.

Stiles just sits there for a few more minutes, unable to believe what just happened. When he finally convinces himself that it's not just a dream, he backs the car out of her drive and heads home. His dad is asleep when he keys himself in, so he quietly creeps into his room and changes his clothes. He knows he probably looks like an idiot with the amount he's smiling but he couldn't care less if the whole world could see him. He had _Lydia Martin_. Lydia Martin loves _him_. He almost drifts off to sleep but them remembers Jackson. Remembers that he's back in town and wants his ex-girlfriend back. That Lydia agreed to go on a date with him – she says it's just to tell him to leave her alone. But he still feels jealous.

Lydia wakes up the next morning happier than she's ever been before. She jumps out of bed, feeling awake and excited for the day ahead. It's also Wednesday, the movie night – the world couldn't have worked out better timing for her and Stiles to start dating.

Natalie Martin is grading essays when Lydia gets downstairs. She smiles up at her daughter, as she usually does, but lingers when she notices the grin plastered on Lydia's cheeks. Her daughter never, ever smiles like that in the morning. Why would she? It's a school day.

"What's gotten you so happy?" Natalie laughs, placing her pen onto the desk to talk to her child. Since their discussion, the two talk all the time about things. Lydia tells her about things she does with her friends and how she feels about Stiles and the older woman tells Lydia about exciting or funny things she gets up to at work and her work associate she has the hots for, Peter.

"I was at Stiles' lacrosse practice last night," Lydia feels like a five year old on Christmas, telling her mother what 'Santa Clause' got her.

"Oh, how did he do?" Natalie removes her glasses and places them next to her pen on the table.

"He did great, but that's not why I'm happy," she takes a mental note to avoid the coffee this morning; she doesn't need the extra adrenaline rushing around her body.

"Then what happened?" Natalie is now smiling, starting to piece it together a little bit but asking to clarify.

"I told him how I felt and he kissed me!" Lydia squeals, unable to keep it in now that she's talking about it.

"That's great, sweetheart! I'm really happy that you've finally gotten over than other chap… Jackson was it?" Natalie shakes her head at the memories of Lydia's heartbreak from that boy.

"Yeah, me too," Lydia is still grinning but then she stops. "Jackson! Oh god the date!" she can't believe she forgot about it. She made a cover story for Stiles, saying that it's just to tell him to leave her alone but she actually had the intention of hearing him out; she's not very good at confrontations or anything like that.

"What? What about him? Oh Hunny, you aren't still hung up over him are you?" Natalie sighs and Lydia frowns, shaking her head furiously.

"No way!" she scoffs, "But he's back. He's back and I told him I would go on a date with him – he told me he wanted to make up for what he did to me and now I don't know what to do."

"Go on the date and tell him about you and Stiles. Tell him you have no intention of getting back with him – or better than that, don't show up and don't call him to say why," her mother claps as she says the second option, proud of her idea.

"I'll just text him and tell him about Stiles and I," Lydia laughs, getting out her phone and texting him to get it over with.

 **Lydia** – Can't go out on a date with you.

A few minutes later, she gets a reply. Unlike she thought, she doesn't feel nervous about what it says. She honestly doesn't care.

 **Jackson** – May I ask why?

 **Lydia** – I have someone now.

 **Jackson** – Stiles?

Lydia smiles. She loves that it's so obvious; it just shows how right they are together.

 **Lydia** – yes.

Jackson stops replying after that and Lydia is glad. He can easily find a new toy to play with, he's Jackson Whittemore. Lydia used to be thrilled to have managed to pull him. _Used to be_.


	21. Chapter 21

Lydia feels extremely cheery as she walks to school. _Walks_ to school – that's how cheery she's feeling. Not even her high heels can put her down this morning; she's hoping Stiles will offer her a ride to Scott's after school. That way, they can have more alone time together.

When Lydia gets to the school, people are watching her and whispering. Almost as if they know about her new relationship, she remembers this from when she and Jackson started newly dating. But how would they? Stiles isn't the type to tell everyone. He likes to keep to himself.

"Lydia," Sophia skips up to her with a smile on her lips and Lydia freezes. She's still not used to Sophia talking to her. They used to _despise_ each other and ignored each other to the point where Lydia didn't realise who the hell Stiles was talking about until she Facebook stalked her.

"Hey," Lydia smiles, slightly delayed, and continues walking with Soph bobbing at her side.

"Is it true about you and Stiles?" she asks and Lydia stops again. So people _did_ know about them.

"How do you know about that?" Lydia frowns slightly in confusion.

"Oh, some guys are telling people they saw you kissing in the boy's locker room when they were showering after lacrosse practice," she giggles and Lydia knows exactly who she's talking about. The guys who gave her funny looks but didn't say anything because of Stiles' victory.

"Oh, right," Lydia runs her fingers through her hair, now very aware of the people still watching her and talking about her. She's used to being the talk around school; she's _'been with'_ enough guys that everybody ended up getting wind of, leading to her being the talk for the day before it all blows over. But this is different; it's because of _Stiles_.

"So is it true? Are you dating him?" Sophia keeps a straight face and Lydia doesn't know whether so tell her or not. She has no idea how his ex-girlfriend will act. She's not even really his ex-girlfriend – they only dated for a couple of days at the most.

"Yeah, I guess," Lydia shrugs, trying not to make a big deal out of it in front of her. But then Sophia breaks out into a huge smile and Lydia swears she even heard a sigh of relief. _I'm imagining it_ she decides _It was probably me._

"Congratulations," the blonde laughs, "I was really hoping you two would because I want your help. Now that we're friends, I can ask you to do this for me," Sophia pulls an envelope out of her bag and traces her fingers over the writing on the top saying 'Stiles' in fancy curly lettering.

"What is that?" Lydia purses her lips, feeling a hint of jealously over the way she wrote his name. _Over the way she wrote his frigging name!_ How pathetic. It's just how much time she must have put into writing each letter, just for the envelope.

"When Stiles broke up with me I was hurt. I mean, I'm not used to being dumped. I always do that part," she laughs, "So, out of my hurt emotions, I said some things to him. I told him I was going to ruin his life. I wrote this letter to apologise to him and explain why I said those things, and hopefully to become friends with him again."

"Is this 'the gift' you wanted me to give him when you first spoke to me?" Lydia looks at the other girl and then back down to the paper in her hand.

"Yeah, but I know it was too soon then. I've added a part in it since then, especially for him. To make him feel how he deserves," she smiles sadly at Lydia and holds the letter out to her. "Will you please give it to him for me?"

Lydia hesitates but then takes it from her hands. "Of course I will," she smiles and places the letter in her own bag.

"Promise me you won't read it? It's sort of personal and I want it to stay between me and Stiles. I swear I'm not trying to get him back or anything. He's yours now," Sophia pleads.

"I won't read it, I promise," Lydia agrees, even though a part of her thinks she should read it just to make sure. She won't though. Because of the way Sophia is looking so gratefully at her right now.

"I'm so thankful for this. Just imagine if he started dating someone I'm not friend with, I wouldn't be able to apologise," she shakes her head. "If I couldn't give him this note, it would hurt me. I need him to read this," she sighs with a perplexed look on her face and then quickly breaks it with a smile. "Thank you Lydia."

"No problem, I'm sure he'll forgive you," Lydia starts backing towards the school, hoping it will point out that she's ready for the conversation to end now.

"Thanks again, Lydia. It really means a lot," Sophia tells her one last time and then turns and heads off towards the group of friends she came from.

Lydia decides to wait until the movie night to give Stiles the letter. At least then, if the note is to try and get him back, she can be there to stop Stiles from listening to it. She trusts him, but she doesn't want to take chances.

Lydia looks around for Stiles and finds him with Scott and Allison next to Lydia's locker, waiting for her. She feels herself start to grin and it grows when he sees her and beckons her over. She has to stop herself from running into his arms and keep to a casual stroll to reach her friends.

"Hey, red," he grins and judging by the tingle rushing through her body, she decides she likes her new nickname.

"Red?" she raises an eyebrow playfully, hoping to keep that name in his head, and he kisses her.

"You guys wanna be left alone?" Scott interrupts and both Lydia and Stiles laugh out loud.

"Us?" Stiles scoffs.

"That's rich coming from you two," Lydia giggles at the same time, tucking her head under Stiles' chin. She loves the fact that they're able to do things like this now and she's taking advantage of it.

"Yeah, yeah," Allison rolls her eyes and pinches Scott's, now red, cheeks.

The bell goes off and Lydia is forced to leave the comfort of Stiles side and head to class. She stays where she is until the last possible second, sighing and groaning about the ringing bell to buy more time.

"Come on," Allison giggles, seeing straight through Lydia's tactics, and takes Lydia's arm through hers. "See you at lunch babe," Allison calls over to Scott. "Bye Stiles," she adds.

"Bye Allison," Stiles shakes his head, grinning and then winks at Lydia. "See you at lunch, Red," he purposely uses this nickname now, like Lydia planned, and 'red' smiles back at him.

The girls get to their lesson and take their seats next to each other. Part way through the lesson, Lydia starts to think about the note, what it could say and whether she should break her promise to Sophia and read it. She starts to get a little paranoid and then, after a few more minutes of debating, she decides to include Allison is its existence.

"Hey, Ally," Lydia whispers over to the brunette, who hums to say she's listening but carries on writing in her book. "Sophia gave me this note earlier, to give to Stiles. She says it's to apologise for things she said to him when he dumped her but…"

"But you're getting paranoid that she's trying to get him back?" Allison turns to her friend with a knowing eyebrow wiggle, showing she knows her best friend. Lydia nods and rolls her eyes.

"Yup," she pops the P and leans back in her seat, sighing. Allison laughs and then turns back to her work.

"She's Sophia, she can get most of the school. I bet she could even get Scott if she wanted to," the girl makes a small 'ugh' sound as she says the last part.

"Not building my confidence. Thanks," Lydia practically growls and the brunette laughs again.

"That's not my point, Lyds. My point is: why would she waste her time writing a note to try and get a boy she was with for two days, when she can get any guy in the school. I mean Stiles is great and everything but he's not exactly the most popular kid in our school," Allison shrugs her shoulders, unaware of how her words are aggravating the strawberry blonde ever so slightly.

"He may not be popular, but he's still the best boy in this school!" Lydia huffs and Ally has a flash of hurt cross her face. "And Scott of course," Lydia adds and the hurt disappears.

"He's great but Sophia doesn't care about that. She wants popularity, d'you understand?"

"Yeah," Lydia smiles, relieved. She knows she was probably over reacting and makes the decision to not read Sophia's private note. She would hate it if someone did that to her.


	22. Chapter 22

_I've been busy but didn't want to leave you with nothing. This chapter isn't as long as the last few have been. It is more of a filler chapter, I have a more eventful chapter coming next time, promise :D Please review, tell me what you think! Thanks for reading, I love you guys._

Stiles waits at the lunch table for ten minutes before anyone shows up. Lydia happens to be the first one and, not that he would ever tell Scott or Allison, he is actually glad she's the first. He watches her stare down at her heeled shoes as she storms towards the table, an aggressive frown on her face.

"You okay?" Stiles asks as he pulls the seat next to him out from under the table for her to sit in.

"No!" she huffs angrily, dropping forcefully into the seat. Stiles widens his eyes in surprise at how snippy she's being and, when she notices, her face fills with remorse. "Sorry! Thanks for the seat," she leans towards him and pecks his cheek. He blushes red; he still cannot believe that he's with Lydia, let alone the fact she was the one to tell him that _she_ loves _him_!

"What happened?" he questions as he takes his lunch box out of his back pack and drops it onto the table in front of him. Scott and Allison are still nowhere to be seen.

It doesn't go unnoticed that Lydia sighs quietly when she sees his lunch, telling him that she's clearly forgotten hers again. He doesn't say anything. Instead, he just un-wraps his sandwich, leaving half of it still in the wrapping, and then slides the half over to Lydia.

"Really?" she looks down at the food and then back up at him, eyes wide in gratitude. Stiles smiles and nods at her, unable to believe how surprised she was by the gesture. Has nobody ever offered her something as simple as lunch before?

"So tell me. What happened?" he presses, genuinely curious why she looked so peeved. She rolls her eyes and sighs loudly.

"I think the teacher lost my assignment… Well she definitely lost it! Because I definitely brought it in, and she's still making me redo it. It has to be done by Friday, I managed to persuade her to let me do it Thursday instead of today – I'm not missing this movie night," her voice slowly raises the more she says on the subject. "I mean, come on! She's the one that freaking lost the crappy piece of shit!"

"Hey, what's up your ass?" Allison laughs from behind her, recognising her best friends ranting tone of voice. She takes a seat and Scott shortly follows.

"About time you guys showed up," Stiles tuts and Scott throws a pea at him from his plate.

"Had to cue for lunch, you douche," Scott muffles through a mouth full of chicken nuggets. Stiles, Lydia _and_ Allison all scrunch their faces up in disgust and Scott just shrugs, laughing.

"What about you? You have packed lunch, what's your excuse?" Stiles raises his eyebrows challengingly at Ally and she opens her mouth in mock shock.

"How dare you speak to me like that, Stilinski!" she frowns, quickly breaking it for a grin. "I was keeping Scott company in the line. _And_ you two looked like you wanted to be left alone for a while longer too," she sticks out her tongue teasingly.

Lydia watches her friends banter with each other for a while, enjoying that they're all together but wishing Allison and Scott could have stayed in the lunch line for an extra few minutes; she was enjoying the sensation of someone caring about what she has to say for once, or at least seeming as if they care.

"Hey, I'll help you with the assignment, yeah?" Stiles whispers over to Lydia and she retakes her surprised wide eyes, amazed that he's even remembered what they were talking about _and_ actually took in what she said, offering help too. She breaks into a grateful smile and nods.

The rest of the lunch break is much like their usual day – bantering, joking, chatting and a few deep discussions here and there. The only difference is the extra-long glances Stiles and Lydia steal from each other, knowing that it's okay to do so now. And the kisses they occasionally share when Scott and Allison are giggling with each other, small but tender and bloody good. If they hated the bell before, it was like a curse now. The ringing, thumping around the school to remind everyone to get to class.

As Scott and Allison make-out with each other before they part ways, Lydia takes this as her opportunity to steal a longer, more heart-felt kiss from her _boyfriend_. She loves that word now – a word she used to hate the sound of after Jackson. A word that became like a terrible swear word, one that scared her, she now repeats over and over in her head; now when she hears that word, a picture of Stiles enters her mind and she loves the giddy feeling that comes with it.

When she finally pulls away, Stiles eyebrows are raised in shock and Scott and Ally are both staring wide eyed from the side, as well as some other random student milling around. Lydia realises she may have gone a little too far, gotten a little distracted with the kiss and word of it would most likely spread around, not that she cares.

"What was that for?" Stiles breathes out, his chest rising and falling quicker than it normally does. This somehow gives Lydia a small pleasure, knowing she caused it.

"For being you," she answers, giving him one last peck on the cheek and then turning and strutting away, purposely not turning back around to leave him with the feeling she knows he has right now. The feeling he gives her every time he looks over - it's only fair.

She hears Allison running to catch up with her and people around her purposely trying to look as if they hadn't seen it, as if they hadn't just been talking about it. Being as popular as she is, Lydia struggles to get away from people noticing her every move. Usually, she hates feeling watched. _Usually_.

"May I ask what that was about?" Allison giggles, "I haven't seen you kiss anyone like that in ages!" the excitable girl shrieks happily, knowing it's a good sign. That Lydia Martin is becoming herself again.

"I know!" Lydia laughs, "I didn't even realise I was. I got carried away…"

"I'll say! I think you just gave Stiles a small aneurysm. He'll have a heart attack if you keep on like that," Allison teases and Lydia hits her arm playfully with her fist.

"Now, now girls. Settle down," Miss Blake smiles at them as they enter the room. Everyone likes Miss Blake; she's super cool and laid back. Not strict in any way – and funnily enough gets the best results from it.

"You got it, Miss Blake," Allison grins as she takes her seat. Lydia laughs, not for anything Allison did but purely because of how happy she feels right now. She hasn't been like this since before she got with Jackson and it makes her realises just how right Stiles is for her, the fact that he can re-create that feeling. She _cannot_ screw this up.


	23. Chapter 23

_I promised a more eventful chapter, sorry if it disappoints you but I think it is :) Hope you enjoy! Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks xx_

Lydia and Allison head over to Ally's car after school. Lydia really cannot put into words how excited she's feeling for the movie night. As they cross the parking lot, Sophia catches her eye. The blonde is smiling at her, waving goodbye. She awkwardly waves back.

"What's with you two?" Allison questions as she digs inside her bag for her car keys. Lydia shrugs, not even understanding it herself.

"I don't know. She just started being really nice to me and stuff. Even after she found out that Stiles and I are together," Lydia tells her, blowing out a puff of air to show just how confusing she finds it all.

"Maybe she finally realises what a complete psycho she was being to Stiles. He told me what she said when he broke it off with her – talk about over reacting," Allison laughs, finally locating her keys and unlocking her car doors.

"Hey," Scott's voice sounds from behind them, startling both of the girls and making them jump. Lydia turns to him, prepared to slap him and sees Stiles laughing behind him.

"Don't do that!" Allison slaps Scott's arm before Lydia even has a chance and the boy yelps in protest. Lydia rolls her eyes and smiles at Stiles, who grins back.

"What's the plan then?" Stiles asks, interrupting Scott and Allison's 'make-up' hug.

"I'm driving to Lydia's so we can change and then going over to Scott's to watch the movie," Ally explains the plan, that even Lydia didn't know, and then opens the driver seats door. "We gotta go if you want to watch this movie. Girls getting ready takes time if you didn't know."

"Trust me, I know," Scott grins mischievously and Ally playfully scowls at him. Whilst they're doing this, Stiles reaches over and squeezes Lydia's hand. She turns to face him but before she can say anything, he kisses her. She brings her hand up to his face whilst his rest around her waist and they just kiss.

"Yo, guys I was serious – Lydia, we have to leave," Allison shouts over to them, huffing when it takes them a few seconds to break apart again. Stiles turns red with embarrassment when he notices Sophia is nearby and so Lydia gives him a reassuring smile.

"She's fine," she tells him, quietly so that the others don't hear her and then she heads to the passenger seat.

"See you guys at my place," Scott gives the girls a thumbs-up and then starts walking towards his motorbike, half dragging Stiles with him. The other boy's eyes linger on Lydia for a few more seconds before he turns and allows himself to be fully dragged along. The red head realises she has never felt so special in her entire life.

"That'll fade," Allison grins, starting the engine in her car. Lydia frowns at her in confusion. "The googly-eyes, that fades. You still love them but it becomes more real that you're actually with them and you relax," Ally tells her and Lydia hums in response. She isn't entirely sure she believes her, it feels like it will never end and she doesn't really want it to.

With the radio playing loudly, the girls sing their hearts out to their favourite songs. It's been so long since Lydia's been in this sort of mood and she can tell that Allison loves it. She almost feels disappointed when they arrive at her place; she's having so much fun. The only thing that makes her get out of the car, and not suggest driving around some more, is the fact she's going to see Stiles.

Stiles practically shuts his eyes the entire ride to Scott's; he hates motor bikes and somehow being on the back of one, instead of driving it, makes it worse. He trusts Scott's driving but there are some idiots on the road, and it scares him to be so open and vulnerable. When they make it to their destination and he feels the bike come to a stop, he practically leaps off it and throws his borrowed helmet into Scott's arms.

"You really hate my bike, don't you?" Scott's laughs, checking to make sure it's parked properly.

"It's not the bike itself, it's the driver," Stiles teases and Scott feigns being hurt, dramatically placing his hand over his heart, with his mouth open wide.

Stiles knows what's coming next; it always happens when he teases his friend like this. He runs towards the front door, trying to close himself in a room before Scott can get to him. He hears footsteps running behind him and he makes it to the living room before Scott jumps him. The boy pins Stiles down so he can't escape.

"Dude, no! Lydia's coming," Stiles begs but he can tell it's not going to work by the grin on Scott's cheeks. Balling his hand into a fist, Scott rubs it on Stiles' hair to fluff it up. Stiles stops fighting and groans in defeat, brushing his own hand over his messed up hair to try and flatten it as much as he can.

Lydia sits on the bed, correcting her make-up, whilst Allison steals her favourite skirt and a white, off the shoulder, top. Lydia had argued over this, insisting that it's what she was going to wear but Allison said she already had something planned for the girl

"Okay, now close your eyes," Allison instructs her, reaching for the 'Macy's' bag she brought with her. Lydia complies, actually sort of excited to find out what it is. "Alright, open."

Lydia opens her eyes and actually squeals as she lays her eyes on the dress Allison is holding up. She had previously spent weeks dragging Ally into Macy's to gawp at the dress she couldn't afford, and now it's here for her to wear.

"Allison Argent, you are my favourite human being!" Lydia shouts, jumping off the bed and taking the fabric out of her friend's arms.

"Had you win you back off Stiles somehow!" Ally giggles, watching Lydia throw the dress on her body as quickly as she can and then gasp as she looks in the mirror. "You look amazing, Lyds!"

"Oh my god, seriously Ally, thank you so so much!" Lydia is practically crying as she throws her arms around the brunette.

"Shut up, you idiot," Allison rolls her eyes but Lydia knows it's her way of saying she appreciates the thanks. "Let's get to Scott's before they watch the movie without us."

Stiles and Scott are laying upside-down on the sofa, bored out of their minds, waiting for the girls to arrive. It's been about an hour and a half since they saw them at school and now it's just getting stupid how long they're taking.

"I swear I've calculated the time it should take for them to get her about twenty times, and they're still not here," Stiles murmurs half-heartedly.

"Trust me, I go through this every time we go on a date," Scott replies and Stiles shakes his head and laughs.

The squeaking of car wheels sound outside and the boys shoot up to their feet, checking through the window to make sure it's them. As soon and Allison steps out of the car, they both race around to make sure everything's set. Stiles checks his hair in the mirror, making sure Scott didn't completely ruin it and then they both stand 'casually' in the middle of the room.

Allison uses the key Scott gave her to enter her boyfriend's home and the girls walk into the room the guys are in. Lydia notices immediately that Stiles' hair has been messed up since she last saw him, and finds something incredibly hot about it. A huge rush of pleasure runs through her as she watches Stiles take it what she's wearing, his mouth falling open slightly.

"Let's get this movie going!" Scott calls excitedly, rushing over to the DVD player and hitting the button.

Stiles reaches his hand out for Lydia to take and leads her to one of the sofas, where they sit together. The four friends all watch the movie, making jokes and pointing out goofs that they notice. None of them ever thought it possible to have such a good time watching a movie and so they're all extremely disappointed when it ends.

"Dude, what time is it?" Stiles asks Scott, who checks the watch on his wrist.

"Ten past six," Scott answers. Both boys smile at each other as the same thought runs through their head. "Let's watch another one. I'll look through my DVD pile and pick one out."

Lydia, leaning into Stiles, suddenly remembers the note she promised Sophia she would give him. She stands up, heading towards the door where she left her bag.

"Where're you going?" Stiles asks her and she hold up one finger, telling him she'll be back in a minute, while she searches through the contents of her bag. When she finds the envelope, she skips back over to Stiles and gives it to him.

"Sophia wanted me to give you this," she smiles, deciding not to explain what it's about; she thinks it would be better for him to read it and find out.

Stiles breaks open the envelope and unfolds the piece of paper inside. Lydia watches him read it, his eyes travelling back and forth across the paper. Her smile fades when she watched his expression fall, turning into a frown. And then his eyes drift to look at her, an accusatory look in them.

"Really?" his voice wavers, sounding like he's trying not to cry. "I know you guys are friends now but…" he breathes out, trying to calm himself but he can't. Lydia opens her mouth, starting to ask what he's talking about but he stands up and storms out of the room, heading up Scott's stairs.


	24. Chapter 24

Lydia stands still for a few moments, trying to figure out exactly what just happened. She can barely even hear Scott and Allison asking what's wrong with Stiles and she almost completely blocks out Kira bounding through the front door calling out her greetings and yelling her apologies for being late for the night. Instead of greeting her back, she pushes past the grinning girl and races up the stairs after Stiles.

She heads down the corridor, heading straight for Scott's bedroom; she knows that's where he'll be. Pushing open Scott's door, she immediately takes it the way Stiles is positioned. His head is hung low and the note he just read downstairs, the one that made him so upset, is crumpled up in a ball at his feet. He briefly glances at her, to check who came through the door in case it was Scott, but doesn't say anything. His face is completely blank and emotionless and, to Lydia, that's worse than being upset or angry for whatever she's done.

"Stiles, what was that about?" she finally brings herself to talk, starting to step towards him but then stopping. She guesses he isn't exactly in the mood for her being close to him right now.

"What do you think?" he retorts harshly and Lydia swears she saw a tear fall out of his eye and land on Scott's mattress.

"I don't know," Lydia answers, feeling frustrated. "That's why I'm asking."

Stiles lets out a small, humourless, laugh and Lydia notices his eyes drift to the crumpled paper on the ground. Sighing to herself, and guessing she's not getting any answers from Stiles, she walks over and picks the letter from the ground. It's pretty folded but she can still manage to read the words.

 _Stiles,_

 _After the amazing date and the special night we shared together, I thought that you were one of the good ones. I thought you were one of the guys to stick with. I always knew something was up with the way you talked about Lydia, but I was willing to overlook that if you could. And it seemed like you were going to – I even started to doubt the signs I was getting about the two of you. But then you had to go and ruin the good thing we had going on, with a terrible and over-used excuse. The 'it's nothing to do with you, it's me' bullshit._

 _Obviously with the way things panned out with Jackson and the break-up excuse he gave her, Lydia understood my pain when I told her about your own terrible excuse. She agreed to help me make you feel the way you deserve._

Lydia stops reading for a second, thinking back to what Sophia said to her when she asked Lydia to give Stiles the letter. 'I've added a part since then, especially for him. To make him feel how he deserves'. Lydia swallows, realising _she_ must be the part, and continues to read the note.

 _With me sort of knowing how you really feel about her, and with her not feeling the same at all, we came up with a plan – she would date you until you are really happy, and then break your heart like you did mine. I know you haven't been dating long, but I can already see on your face and by the way that you look at her that you're happy. I suppose that's what gets to me the most. So I figured now is the best time._

 _I really hope this has made you feel the way we planned – I'm pretty certain it will._

 _Sophia x_

Lydia cannot believe the way Sophia used her and she completely understands why Stiles believes it. After all, Lydia was the one who confessed to him with perfect timing for what Soph has written. She looks up at Stiles, who is giving her the most hurt expression she has ever seen in her life, and she feels like she can no longer breathe.

"Stiles, I swear to god I had no idea she was writing this!" Lydia starts, stepping closer to him.

"You weren't ready for me to find out?" he has a coldness in his voice that Lydia's never heard before. Unlike the rest of him, she hates it.

"No, it's not true. I had no idea this was her plan – she told me she was apologising for something she said when you broke up with her… Stiles we didn't make a plan together, I swear to god," Lydia rambles the words out as quickly as she can, praying for him to believe and trust her. She now understands why Sophia was so desperate for them to get together. She should have seen something like this coming.

"I… I don't know if I believe you," he confesses and Lydia's heart breaks in two. "The timings. Lydia, they all fit with what she's saying. You two become friends, which is weird after what Ally told me, and straight after that, you say you love me. Why didn't you say it before then?"

"I couldn't, Stiles you know why!" Lydia feels moisture build behind her eyes and stray drops roll down her cheeks. "I couldn't because of how I was after Jackson, you know that."

"So why now?" Stiles shrugs, his own tears forming.

"Because I _need_ you," her voice breaks as she says that. "Stiles if what she's saying was true, why would I be trying to win you back right now?" Lydia asks and her hopes rise slightly by the look that spreads over his face as he thinks about that. "Stiles please trust me. I would never do that to you. Sophia is trying to ruin what we have! She already told you she was going to ruin your life. Think about it!"

Stiles takes her hand in his and looks her deeply in the eyes. "Tell me you love me. If you're telling the truth and I'm really who made you move on from Jackson, tell me," he has a look behind his eyes that's as if he's begging her to do it. Begging her to be telling him the truth.

"I've already told you before that I love you, remember?" Lydia says before she can stop herself. She hopes that she hasn't ruined it – she knows she should have just said it.

"Tell me again."

Lydia kneels down so that she's pretty much on the same level as him sitting on the bed and brings her hand up to caress his cheek. She feels him lean into it and a small smile graces her lips. "I _love_ you!"

Stiles' eyes dart between hers for a few seconds and then he nods. She breathes out a sigh of relief and throws her arms around him, feeling glad when he does the same thing. She hears him muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over again as they hug and she squeezes him tighter.


	25. Chapter 25

_I really hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it :P Please follow, favourite and review! :D Thanks for reading, I love you all x x_

After 'hugging it out' for a little while, Lydia and Stiles decide to head back down to the others. They're all sitting on the sofas in silence but as soon as they spot the couple walking into the room, they all stand up quickly.

"What happened?" Allison is the first to speak and soon after her, everyone else starts with the questions.

"Are you guys okay?" Kira asks.

"What did you read?" Scott jumps in. Lydia opens her mouth, about to explain to all of her friends what happened so that they can go on with the night as normal. Well, as normal as they can get.

"It was nothing. Just a misunderstanding," Stiles answers quickly, before Lydia can speak. Much to the red-heads surprise, none of the others ask any more questions about it. Maybe it was something about Stiles' tone of voice that told them to drop it. "We're actually leaving," Stiles adds and Lydia has to try and keep the surprise and worry off her face.

"You are?" Scott raises his eyebrows and Allison frowns at them.

"I thought we were watching another movie?" Ally doesn't bother to hide the disappointment she feels.

"You guys just watch one without us," Lydia smiles at them and then she feels Stiles' hand clasp around hers. Allison continues to look annoyed but the others just nod and agree to let them go without saying anything.

Stiles and Lydia head outside and start walking along the path in silence. Because of the lifts they had, neither of them have a car. Lydia has no idea where they're walking to but she doesn't want to ask, just in case Stiles is still a little pissed about the note. She can't figure out whether he believes her or not now.

As soon as Lydia realises what road they are on, she knows where they're heading. They're going to Stiles' house, probably to get his Jeep so he can take her home. Lydia shivers slightly as the cool night air starts to whip at her arms but she doesn't say anything.

They reach Stiles' house and he opens his front door, grabbing his keys off the hook and then stepping back outside. Lydia's heart starts to beat faster as she comes to the conclusion that he definitely stills thinks she had something to do with the note.

"Stiles," she grips his arm before he can open the car door and he looks over to her. "I know you probably still think that I made a plan with Sophia, but I didn't," she pleads him with her eyes, practically begging him to believe her.

"I know," he replies and then gets into the Jeep. Lydia feels like crying; he says he believes her but he's still being off with her.

She climbs into the other side of the car silently and leans her head onto the back of the seat, sighing to herself and closing her eyes. After about fifteen minutes, Lydia realises they can't be going to her house; they would've gotten there by now. She opens her eyes again and an ice-cream shop comes into view. As Stiles pulls into one of the parking spaces, Lydia turns to ask him what he's doing but stops when she sees him smiling at her.

"You told me you like ice-cream… when we were talking in the Jeep after school," he explains and Lydia remembers the first time they _really_ spoke - in his Jeep, after her two hour detention, when they got to know each other through questions. She smiles as she remembers exaggeratedly telling him that she _loves_ ice-cream and that she could happily eat four whole tubs to herself. She grins wildly at him and leaps out of the Jeep, half running towards the building.

"You coming?" she calls out, turning around to check. He laughs as he walks towards her and she breathes out an internal sigh of relief, glad to know he's not pissed at her.

Stiles pushes open the door for her and they both head towards the counter. Literally all of the seats are available, nobody else is there because of the time. By the time they left Scott's, it was 7:00 and then they got to the ice-cream place at 7:45. Obviously not many people go for ice-cream that late.

"Hello, welcome to 'Ice-cream Palace'," the guy behind the till chirps happily, obviously thrilled to have someone to serve. "What can I get for you?"

"One double vanilla bowl and…" Stiles turns to Lydia to ask what she wants and laughs as he watches her staring at the flavours like a two year old.

"I'll have the same…" Lydia tells the guy, not wanting to seem greedy in front of Stiles. He rolls his eyes and holds up a finger to stop the cashier from going off to sort their order.

"Make that last one a small scoop of each flavour," he tells him and the man nods, happy to oblige considering it meant spending more money.

"I don't have enough for that," Lydia shakes her head but she can't keep the smile off her face; Stiles knows her too well.

"Doesn't matter, I'm paying anyway," he shrugs and Lydia's eyes open wide in shock. Jackson would never pay for her meal. He used to take her out to expensive restaurants and she'd have to pick out as cheap a meal as she could get, even if she didn't like the food.

"You can't pay for this, it's gonna be twenty dollars!" Lydia exclaims, pointing to the sign saying '$1 a scoop'.

"I want to pay. And you also don't have a choice considering your lack of money," he winks and she smiles warmly at him.

A while later Lydia is sat at one of the tables with her enormous bowl of ice-cream. She and Stiles are at one their 'question games' and he's helping out with her bowl because she cannot manage it on her own.

"Are you mad at me?" Lydia chooses this as her question, looking down at the table nervously.

"For the letter?" Stiles asks and she nods, still looking down. "No, of course not. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you, thinking back to it I should have. I know you and I know you would never to that to _anyone_ , let alone me. Especially after what you've been through," he rubs his fingers gently over her knuckles and she looks back up at him and smiles.

"I swear I'll talk to Sophia and get something out of her… answers," Lydia tells him and he just nods. "Your turn," she whispers, knowing she doesn't need to say anything else about it. He knows she didn't do it and that's all that's important.

"What's your favourite place to be?" Stiles questions and Lydia thinks for a moment. _How about, anywhere with you?_

"The beach," she eventually decides. She has had so many good memories at the beach with her mom, her _dad_ , Ally and Scott…

"Then let's go," Stiles grins, "That alleyway over there leads to the steps," he points out the alley and Lydia suddenly realises they are right next to a beach. She can see the sea splashing along the sand and she can't believe she didn't notice it before – even with the salty smell.

Lydia doesn't need to be asked twice. She stands up, shovelling one last spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth and then follows Stiles' through the alleyway and over to the stone steps leading down onto the sand. Squeezing Stiles' hand she grins wildly and, due to her tugging, they both run down the steps and along the sand.

They have a great time, playing like children in the sand and paddling in the sea. Unlike most people, Lydia loves the sea at night. She would never swim in it, due to the fact she can't see what's underneath her, but she loves how black and shimmery it gets.

Lydia is having such a good time that she doesn't want to leave, but suddenly Stiles grabs her hand and points out the cost guards vehicle as it roams the beach, looking for people.

"We better go, the tide's coming in tonight and he's gonna get us to leave anyway," Stiles kisses her cheek and starts to walk back towards the steps.

"Wait," Lydia grins, noticing a small cave made from large rocks right at the top of the beach, a few meters from the stairs. Stiles' follows her gaze and shakes his head.

"No, Lydia. The tide, remember?" he takes her hand to try and get her to go to the stairs.

"We won't be here long, I just don't want to leave yet," Lydia checks the time on the phone, ten past nine. "I swear when the tide starts coming in, we'll go," she raises her eyebrows in question and gives Stiles' her best begging eyes.

"Okay, fine," he rolls his eyes and allows Lydia to lead him over to the cave. There's just enough room for them both to sit in there, snug against each other, without being spotted from the outside.

It takes ages for the coast guard to get to their side of the beach. So long, that Stiles and Lydia _both_ fall asleep sitting in the cave.

Lydia wakes up as she feels water sloshing around her legs. She opens her eyes and immediately remembers where she is, panicking as she takes it the water filling up their small space.

"Stiles!" she shouts, pulling him out of his slumber. He also takes in the water, quickly standing up and poking his head out of the cave to see how much the tide's in.

"Okay, the tides in pretty far. There's water all around us," he concludes and Lydia's breath starts to get thicker the more she panics.

"Oh my god, Stiles!" she can feel herself start to shake as more water fills their cubby hole.

"Lydia, look at me," he takes her face in his hands and look into her eyes. "We're gonna be okay, alright?" he tells her and she nods even though she doesn't believe him. "We're right next to the pier, so I can get you up there," he takes her hand and stands on top of the large rocks forming the cave.

"Oh my god!" Lydia yelps as she takes in the amount of water around them and Stiles re-takes his position of standing with her face in his hands.

"It's okay Lydia. I'm going to lift you up and I need you to grab onto the pier and help push yourself onto it, okay?" he sounds so calm despite the situation and, surprisingly, it actually calms Lydia down a bit too. She nods and tries to calm down her harsh breaths.

Stiles crouches down, interlocking his fingers and cupping his hands for Lydia to stand on. Trying to ignore the splashing water that hits her every so often as the waves angrily crash onto the rock, she places her foot onto his hands.

"Jump after three, okay?" Stiles instructs her calmly and she sucks in a deep breath. "One," he tightens his grip around Lydia's foot slightly. "Two," Lydia's breathing quickens the more she panics. "Three!" Stiles pushes up on Lydia's foot at the same time she jumps, lifting her higher in the air and allowing her to grab onto the pier with ease.

The hard part is pulling herself up, which brings her to a terrible conclusion: If she can't pull herself up, how is she going to pull Stiles up?

"You can do it, Lyds!" Stiles calls from below her. She groans in the effort, pushing her hands down onto the concrete and she manages to bring her leg up too. This makes it easier, allowing her to pull the rest of her body onto the stone.

"Stiles, give me your hand," Lydia reaches down for him, despite her horrible thought. She knows she has to try. Stiles jumps up for her hand, attempting to grab it but the wall it too high. Of course it is, otherwise the rising tide would flood the nearby buildings.

Stiles looks around for other options and eventually looks back up at Lydia. "I'm gonna head for the stairs, they're not that far away," he tells her.

"No, Stiles don't!" Lydia screams, watching how rough and menacing the waves look as they crash against the pier wall and the rocks around Stiles' feet.

"I don't have any other choice," he tells her and for the first time in the situation, he looks scared. This makes it worse for Lydia – if he looks scared, that means there if definitely something that could go wrong.

"Please, Stiles!" Lydia begs, "I'll call someone!"

"There isn't any time for them to get here, the tides rising," he looks down at his feet and Lydia notices that the rock he's stood on, one a huge looking boulder, now has barely any stone left showing. The water is starting to come up over it and Stiles' shoes are sat in a small pool of sea water.

"You can't swim over there!" Lydia sobs, tears streaming down her face as she panics more and more. "Let me get the ice-cream guy; he's sure to have something to help!"

"That place is closed, he'll have gone home," Stiles breathes out one long shaky breath and then look up at Lydia with a smile - one that she doesn't trust, even though it looks completely genuine. "I'll be fine," he tells her and then jumps into the water.

Lydia screams, searching frantically for him but she can't see in the pitch black ocean. She sprints over to the steps, holding her breath as she awaits his arrival there.

Two minutes later, the longest and most painful two minutes of Lydia's life, he still isn't at the steps. "Stiles?" she calls out for him, praying for a reply. Something to tell her that he's close to reaching the steps. "Stiles!" she yells out again. This is all her fault and she knows it. If she had just left when he tried to get her too, if she hadn't dragged him to the cave…


	26. Chapter 26

Lydia is on her knees by the steps. Stiles' dad, being the sheriff, is allowed on the scene – which probably makes it easier for him; not sitting at home waiting for a call about his _son_. He's trying to get information out of Lydia, anything to help, but she's barely listening. She's just staring at the waves lapping over the concrete a few steps below her.

"Lydia. Please, this is my son," the sheriff's voice wavers as he tries to stay strong. Unlike Lydia was when calling 911 and reaching one of the deputies. Unlike she was when trying to explain what had happened over the phone.

"Lydia!" The sheriff half shouts at her, snapping her out of her mini state. Suddenly, she feels terrible for not answering; this was the man that let her stay in his house when she got into a fight with her mom. And he didn't even know her.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault," Lydia whispers, staring at the floor. She can't bring herself to look at Mr Stilinski. "We should've left the beach."

"Lydia this isn't your fault, don't blame yourself. All Stiles ever wanted was to protect you, make sure you made it up onto the pier. And he did. I can say I'm proud of him," the sheriff swallows hard and places a hand on her shoulder. Lydia doesn't know if he's trying more to make her feel better, or himself. She watches other police officers as they shine torches over the sea, searching for any signs of the boy.

"They are gonna find him, aren't they?" Lydia shivers.

"Lydia, I am not going to stop searching until we find him. You can trust me on that," he tells her. "We'll find him. Wherever he is, or…" he doesn't finish the sentence but he doesn't have too; Lydia knows what he's trying to say: _However_ he is.

Before she knows what's happening, Lydia is being carted off towards a car, her mom's car. Mr Stilinski must have called her, to get Lydia away from the scene and out of the way. She hears him yell out that he'll call her the minute he finds something, and that makes her feel slightly better, but not much.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Natalie asks as she starts the car. Lydia shakes her head, staring to cry again and her mom doesn't say anything else. She knows there is nothing that can make her feel okay right now.

When they get home, Allison and Scott are waiting outside with tears in their eyes too. Lydia looks over to her mom. "Did you call them?"

"You shouldn't be alone right now," Natalie smiles sadly and Lydia frowns. She hates that her mom is already talking like Stiles is dead. He isn't, she knows it. She _hopes_ it.

"I have you?" Lydia doesn't want to see her friends right now. Not when it's partly her fault that they have tear stains on their cheeks.

"They shouldn't be alone either," Natalie nods once and then Lydia gets out of the car, half running towards Allison. She decides her mom's right: she needs a hug right now.

Lydia sobs into Allison's shoulder as Scott places a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, all of them breaking into warm, fresh tears. They don't even notice Natalie go inside, leaving them alone.

Lydia doesn't sleep. She's cocooned in the middle of her friends, like they feel they need to protect her right now, and she's wide awake. She stares at her phone in the hopes that the sheriff will call her with news. _Please let him be okay_.

The sun rises and more time goes by before Scott stirs and wakes up. He looks to Allison first, checking to see if she's awake, and then at Lydia.

"Did you sleep?" he asks her, his voice heavy and thick with fatigue. Lydia shakes her head and Scott moves his arm around her, pulling her into a hug. "It's going to be fine," he tells her, his voice hollow and empty. Lydia immediately takes in the way he said 'it's' and not 'he's'. Nobody thinks he's coming back.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," she pulls away from his arms and stomps into the bathroom angrily. She stays in there for a good hour, sobbing under the spray of warm water so that nobody can hear her.

When she gets out, although both Allison and her mom say that they all should miss school for the day, Lydia insists on going. She says she needs the distraction and Scott agrees with her, probably realising that he pissed her off and trying to make up for it. Although she would never admit it, Ally doesn't want to be alone and Lydia can see it. So the brunette sticks with them, also heading into school.

It's not until they all walk into the building and everyone is staring at her, whispering and looking sorry for her that Lydia regrets her decision _and_ being popular - Having everyone know that she and Stiles were together and that now he's ' _gone'_.

The strawberry blond spends most of the day skipping classes in the library, and the teachers who spot her don't say anything. They most likely feel too awkward to yell at her at the moment. At lunch she spots Sophia entering the room with her friends, laughing and chatting… being completely happy. Why do bad things always happen to good people, and nothing to the bad ones?

She considers shouting at her, releasing all of her pain onto her. If it wasn't for that _stupid_ note, Stiles and Lydia would never have been on the beach in the first place. They'd be at Scott's watching another movie.

"Lydia?" Sophia's voice calls her name, directly in front of her. Lydia had been daydreaming, thinking, and hadn't even noticed Sophia coming towards her. She doesn't answer, not wanting to say something that could get her in trouble. And she can think of _a lot_ of things.

"I know you're probably mad at me for including you in that note, but I hope you understand why I did it. And I'm really sorry for your loss," Sophia smiles sadly at her and Lydia wants to hit her.

"I haven't _lost_ anything, Stiles isn't dead!" Lydia bites back and Sophia nods apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she looks nervous and normally, Lydia would be more forgiving. But not today.

"No, you shouldn't have. Just like you shouldn't have written that note, _or_ included me in it!" she starts to raise her voice and the library woman shushes them both. "You almost split us up. It's your note that made us go to that beach and _your_ note that made Stiles go missing!" she shouts. She knows it's overboard, she knows it's harsh and she knows she will probably be apologising for it when Stiles turns up. _If_ Stiles turns up.

But she's not apologising now. She watches a guilty looks spread over Sophia's face and then she stands up and barges out of the library. Just as she stops to catch a breath, leaning her head back against the wall, her phone begins to ring. She pulls it out of her bag, checking the caller ID. 'Stiles' Dad'

"Hello?" Lydia has the phone answered and pressed against her ear before the call can get to three rings.

"Lydia, we were searching all night for Stiles. We got to a small island of sand a few miles north about ten minutes ago. Stiles had washed up there," the sheriff's voice runs through the facts quickly and Lydia feels relief flooding through her.

"Is he okay?" she manages to pant out, now leaning her full body onto the wall and allowing herself to sink down onto the ground.

Sheriff doesn't answer, his side of the line dead quiet. Lydia's breathing turns shallow and her heart jumps into her throat. Any relief she felt is held in suspension by the man's silence.


	27. Chapter 27

_Please leave me requests of what you want the next STYDIA fanfic I write to be about on_ _ **ask . fm**_ _(with no spaces) My username is Obrienlover24. Or just ask me a question on there, I'd love to answer them. Don't worry though, me asking for requests doesn't mean this story is over right now it just means I can start the next story sooner when this one is over. Seriously guys, get on ask! :D Thanks xx_

"Sheriff?" Lydia stands and raises her voice slightly in concern, which grabs the attention of a student searching inside their locker. Lydia ignores the stare she receives and turns to face the wall, leaning her forehead against the cool paint and tracing one finger over the bumps. "Sheriff?" she unintentionally quietens as the lump in her throat gets bigger.

"Sorry Lydia, we went in a bad signal zone for a second there. What did you say?" Stiles' dad's voice finally comes through the speakers in her cell. Lydia searches his voice for any indicators to how he's feeling – he sounds stressed, he _definitely_ sounds stressed. This makes Lydia panic even more.

"Is Stiles okay?" she stops tracing her finger over the wall, standing dead still as she awaits the answer.

"He was unconscious when we found him. He's in an ambulance now, in and out of consciousness, and… he keeps saying your name. I would have called from the hospital, after he's been treated, but I thought you'd want to know," Sheriff finally tells her and she cries, this time in relief. She knows she will most likely have gathered an audience, actually she can hear them all behind her. But she doesn't care; they found Stiles.

"I'm coming to see him, Beacon Hills Memorial?" Lydia breathes out, strutting past the watching people who turn and pretend to have been in their own conversations the whole time.

"Lydia, he won't be able to have visitors for a long time. He isn't even at the hospital yet," he tells her, and as he does Lydia hears Stiles behind him. _Is that Lydia?_ She hears him ask. "Yeah. Yeah, it's her," she then hears his Dad tell him. This makes her decision final: she murmurs a quick 'see you soon' and then hangs up the phone, pushing through the school's front doors and walking along the parking lot. She gets to her car, already feeling bad for leaving Scott and Ally with no ride, and starts the engine.

 **Lydia** – I have to take the car and leave, it's an emergency. They found Stiles and he's going to the hospital – hope you understand.

She drops the phone into the compartment underneath her radio and starts pulling the Toyota out of it parking space. _Beep_ – Lydia opens her phone and reads the text.

 **Allison** – Don't go yet, wait for me and Scott. We want to see him too.

Lydia didn't even think about that, they are friends with him too. Reluctantly, she drives back into her space and waits for the others. It takes them three minutes to reach her car. She counted.

"How do you know they found him? Did his Dad call you?" Allison asks as Lydia begins pulling out of the parking space once again.

"Yeah, he told me they found him on a small island of sand a few miles north and that they're taking him to the hospital," she answers quickly and bluntly, trying to give as much information in the hopes Allison doesn't ask any more questions; Lydia really doesn't feel like talking about it right now, she just wants to focus on getting to the hospital and finding out if he's going to be okay. Luckily, Ally seems to take the hint and backs off.

The three of them are sitting in the waiting room for four hours before Melissa, Scott's Mom and a nurse at the hospital, brings them coffee. They are then there for a further five hours before Stiles' dad comes and sits with them.

"They aren't telling me much," He half-whispers, clearly a little pissed off that the doctors are holding out on details. "They said they're 'doing everything they can' and that they will come and find me when 'they know for sure'. Basically they have no idea whether he's going to live!" he squeezes his eyes shut and Lydia notices his hands gripping tightly onto the arms of his seat.

"Mr Stilinski?" Lydia wants to make him feel better, like his son has done for her many times. He looks up at her and she puts on the most confident face she can muster, even though it's the fakest expression she's had to pull in her life; she doesn't feel confident, not right now. "If there is one thing I know from the time spent with Stiles, it's that he's strong. It's going to take a hell of a lot worse than some water to knock him down," she stands up and takes the seat next to the Sheriff. "He's going to be _okay_."

Stilinski nods at her, with a solemn smile and gives her a quick, appreciative, hug. "Thank you," he whispers.

Lydia doesn't even remember falling asleep but she finds herself being woken up by Melissa. She has the Sheriff's jacket over her legs, but he is no longer next to her. Scott and Allison are asleep opposite her, Ally resting her head on Scott's shoulder.

"Lydia, Sheriff Stilinski sent me to come and get you. Stiles is awake and, we normally wouldn't allow for visitors outside family, but he keeps asking for you," Melissa smiles and Lydia quickly stands, being careful to be as quiet as she can; she doesn't want to wake the other two – especially when they _can't_ go in and see Stiles.

Lydia follows Scott's Mom through a corridor and into a special unit specifically for patients that need treating like Stiles does. She finds herself standing outside a small room with glass allowing you to see inside. There, she can see Stiles. He's awake and talking to his Dad – a sight she never thought she'd be so happy to witness.

Lydia pushes down the door handle and enters the room, grinning wildly in relief when she sees the smile on her boyfriend's face. The light in his eyes now that he's seen her.

His dad stands up, patting Lydia on the shoulder and muttering something about coffee, then leaving the room.

"Hey," Lydia whispers as she takes the seat right next to the hospital bed.

"Hey," Stiles croaks out. His skin looks pale, a hint of blue lacing it, and he has an oxygen mask placed over his mouth and nose.

"That was really stupid, what you did. I told you not to swim over to the stairs," Lydia rambles, a tear slipping out of her eye and down her face.

"I'm okay," he reaches his hand over and places it on top of her. A small tube has been injected into his hand and Lydia wants to cry as she takes in all of his hospital details. Takes in the fact that he really is hurt.

"What happened?" she swallows and he shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't remember. I blacked out when I crashed into the wall. Look, Lydia I'm fine. Are you okay?" he sounds tired. No, exhausted.

"I'm fine, I'm okay," she says quickly, even though it's not entirely true. Physically, she's fine. But emotionally… that's a different story.


	28. Chapter 28

_Guys, please get on_ _ **ask . fm**_ _(no spaces). I know I keep saying it but it would really help me out if you offer me requests for my next stydia fanfic. Seriously, I will really appreciate it if you will do this for me, really. You can request more than one and you can also ask a question for me to answer too if you like. Please guys :D Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this little chapter._

The hardest part for Lydia was going back to school after everything. Allison and Scott had both gone back the next day. Lydia had managed to skive a few days without anybody questioning, spending it all with Stiles in his hospital room, but then the adults started to push her away. It started small – getting her to go home to take a shower or a change of clothes. Telling her to skip the cafeteria and head out of the hospital for lunch in the hopes she would decide she didn't want to be cooped up in Hospital anymore. And then they just outright asked her to go to school when it failed.

"You still need to take care of yourself, sweetheart," her mother had said. "Stiles is fine and he doesn't need you there 24/7."

Lydia knows that he is fine. She was there for his MRI, the results coming back to show that he was lucky enough to not have any serious head injuries. She was there for the x-ray on his broken ribs, and the operation to pin them into a position they'd heal properly in (all of it going according to plan). And she was there when they told him it wouldn't be long before he was discharged. That he needed a couple more tests and results to hopefully put him in the clear. But that isn't the point. The point is: she wants to be with him because he's _hurt_. Not because he isn't getting better or anything like that.

Lydia slumps through the school building for the whole day, going to classes like a zombie and half-heartedly listening to her two remaining best friends at lunch time.

She avoids Sophia like the girl is poison; she doesn't want to hear any more apologies or anything like that. Lydia hadn't failed to notice the effort coming from the blonde in each lesson they were in together, allowing Lydia the only laptop when they both needed one in Physics and smiling softly at the red head whenever a glance happened to fall to her side of the room. She had to admit that the soft spot she had briefly formed for Sophia is trying to fight its way back out but she keeps pushing it away; she's not planning on forgiving her anytime soon and she's not planning on speaking to her.

When the bell goes at the end of the day, the life shoots back into Lydia and she practically runs out of the building. She doesn't bother taking the second exit on the roundabout to go home, she instead takes the third – heading for Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. That's the only place she wants to be.

Stiles' whole body aches as he simply walks to the bathroom in the little door next to his bed. He's barely even walking three feet and he already wants to give up. It appears that a couple of broken ribs is worse than breaking a leg, which he'd done before. There are no crutches to ensure that the break does not press on anything and cause pain. Every time he moves, something seems to happen inside him and a waft of pain shoots from his rib area. For some reason, the pain radiates through his arms, causing them to get an aching sensation as well.

When he finally gets out of the bathroom, he is delighted to see a strawberry blonde sitting in the chair next to the bed he should be in. He immediately takes in how pretty she looks when she smiles up at him. She's wearing the same blue dress she was wearing the first time they met at school, outside the principal's office. Stiles cannot believe how far they have come since then – back then he was just another guy with a crush on the hot popular girl. But, luckily for him, the hot popular girl just so happened to give him the time of day and speak to him, leading to a special bond, friendship and now a relationship.

Stiles straightens his walk to the best of his ability, trying to hide how much pain he is really in. He doesn't want her worrying about him, not now she's just finally agreed to go back to school. As much as Stiles loves having her around, he wants her to have a good education and get into a good college. He wants her to be able to make something of herself, which she won't be able to do very well sitting in a chair next to his bed. Even though it's only a week or so she's missing, _hopefully_ , she's still missing out on those possible extra marks in her exams. Those extra marks that could place her a grade above somebody else. The extra grade that could win her favour over competitors in her future career.

"How are you?" Lydia stands up and gently slides her arms around his body, being exceptionally wary and careful of his broken ribs. The first thing she had noticed today was the lack of blue in his skin. Every day it had gotten gradually less and less and now it's virtually gone - a sign he is truly getting better.

"I'm doing fine," he hugs her back, giving her a little squeeze and then sitting on the side of his bed. Lydia notices the pained expression he briefly makes as he drops down onto the mattress but she doesn't say anything. "How are you?" he asks her back.

"I'm obviously okay, you're the one that's in the hospital right now," she laughs, trying to be light hearted but Stiles doesn't laugh back.

"You can be hurt without physical injuries," he tells her, reaching over and taking her hand in his. "What happened that night, events like that… it can scar people - the stress and the scare of it all. I've been worried about you," he smiles and she almost laughs again. He's been worried about _her_?

"I'm fine," he shrugs and he nods, releasing her hand and hoisting himself fully into his bed. He lies back against the pillows. "Where's your Dad?"

"At the station. He said he didn't wanna leave but he has to continue to work so that he can pay for this," he gestures to his surroundings and scoffs, hating the fact he's causing his already stressed father to work a double shift.

"It's not your fault, Stiles," Lydia furrows her eyebrows, reading his expression. He just shrugs and gives her a sad smile. "It's really not your fault… it's mine."

Stiles sits forwards again when he realises she's not joking and gives her a confused look. "You don't really think that do you?" he asks and, it takes her a second but, she eventually nods.

"If I hadn't had made us stay on the Beach and hide in that stupid cave…" she trails off.

"Lydia it was my choice too. It's just as much my fault; I knew the tide was coming in and yet I still went into that cave," Stiles shakes his head, completely blown away by the fact that Lydia blames herself.

There's a small silence before Lydia finally decides to be the one to break it. "I didn't say anything before because I didn't want to bring her up, but Sophia talked to me," Lydia states and Stiles gives her a wary look, slightly afraid to hear what the crazy bitch said to his girlfriend.

"Are you okay?" he frowns, thinking of what he's going to say to Sophia when he finally gets discharged from the hospital and allowed back at school.

"Yeah, she didn't say anything bad," Lydia assures him and Stiles relaxes slightly but not completely. "She apologised for the note and she keeps trying to make amends in small tokens throughout lessons," Lydia shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"Let her," Stiles says and Lydia almost asks him to repeat himself to make sure she heard him right. Let her make amends? Let her get away with almost breaking them up?

"So you're saying I should talk to her… let her apologise and I should accept it?" Lydia clarifies and Stiles nods, smiling slightly at how surprised she is by his suggestion.

"I admit when you said she spoke to you, I was ready to tell her where to go. But if she's apologised and is _still_ trying, then she really is sorry. I think you should hear her out, I know if she apologises to me when I'm out of here, I will."

Lydia thinks about that for a second - This girl just tried to ruin his relationship and she told him she was going to ruin his life. This girl was partially the reason he's in the hospital and he is willing to let her apologise. He is willing to forgive her. And then she comes to the conclusion that he is certainly an amazing person, a better one than her and she would listen to him. Starting from tomorrow, she would let Sophia make up for her mistake.


	29. Chapter 29

_Unfortunately this is the last chapter of this fic. I will be doing another one as soon as I can, so keep an eye out for that, but I really hope you enjoy this final chapter. Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think of this story and if you've enjoyed it in the reviews x x Love you guys!_

Stiles sits in his car outside Lydia's house. It's been two months since his accident and he's practically healed – he only feels pain in his ribs when doing exertive activities. This means he can't play lacrosse right now, but he _will_ be able to play it again and that's what matters. The hardest thing for him to deal with was his father. It had taken the man three whole weeks before he agreed to let Stiles out after school, worried that he might make another mistake.

Lydia's front door finally opens and out she comes, looking as beautiful as ever. She grins at him as she heads for the passenger seat and slides in, checking herself in the mirror quickly and then turning to face him.

"Hey," he smiles at her and her grin widens.

"Hey," she replies and then Stiles starts the Jeep. He turns out of the small road that Lydia's house sits in and reaches his hand over to hers, locking their fingers and keeping them like that.

That night, the one on the beach when the tide was rising, he was the most terrified he'd ever been in his entire life. And it wasn't because he was scared of getting swept away – it was because he was scared of _Lydia_ getting swept away. He tried to be calm for her; she was panicking so much but inside so was he. All he cared about was getting her onto the pier and away from the water, and he did that. He didn't care what happened to him after that. He's never felt that way before, he's never had a girlfriend before her but he's had crushes. He's really liked people and really cared for people, but not like that. Not to the point where he'd give his life up for them. That's how he knows that Lydia is right for him and he prays she feels the same way. He'd be lost without her.

When the couple reach the school and Stiles' Jeep is parked, they exit in unison and find each other's hands when they get to the front of the car. Lydia chats about her idea for the assignment she should have completed by now. She'd had plenty of time; it should have been in just a week ago – giving her about two months. But with the whole situation and Stiles being in hospital, being too ill to go into school, the teacher let her have an extra week to 'finish it off'. She hadn't even started it.

"D'you still need a hand?" Stiles asks as they walk over to the usual hangout spot.

"You still want to help me?" Lydia hadn't mentioned it for that reason. She doesn't expect him to do something like that after everything he's been through.

"Lydia, it's been two months. I'm fine," he laughs and Lydia doesn't argue. She has learnt by now that she can never win a disagreement when it's something like this. When it's something he wants to do for her.

Ally and Scott are already in the hangout spot with Thomas – a new addition to their group of friends. Allison smiles when she notices Stiles and Lydia heading towards them. Scott and Tom are too involved in a discussion, probably about lacrosse, to even notice they're coming until they reach them.

"Hey Stydia," Allison grins mischievously, knowing that Lydia always tells her off for calling them that.

"I told you to stop calling us that!" she pretends to find it irritating but she secretly likes it. _Stydia_ -their own name.

"Hey guys," Scott beams and they both nod at him in greeting.

Thomas gives them a small wave but doesn't say anything; he's quite a quiet person until you get him comfortable. When they first met him, he was sitting alone outside eating lunch. Lydia had felt so sorry for him that she invited him to sit with them at lunch and, once they had gotten to know him, everyone loved him. Especially Sophia, who'd also joined their group not long before him – Lydia had stuck with her plan to try and forgive her. And while sometimes she thinks back to the look on Stiles' face when he read Sophia's note and a part of her still gets hurt from the girl's actions, she really does like her.

"Where's Soph?" Lydia asks, leaning her head onto Stiles' arm; it can't quite reach his shoulder. Not without her special heels on.

"Here," a girly voice calls out. Lydia smiles at the blonde girl as she skips into Thomas' arms and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

Of course Allison, Scott and, especially, Stiles will always be the most special to her, being with her from the start, but she loves the little circle she has with her now. And she wouldn't change it for the world – Neither would Stiles.


End file.
